The President of Pakistan dissolved the Parliament and called for new elections within the next 90 days

Pakistan's president dissolved Parliament on Sunday, setting the stage for early elections after the prime minister evaded a no-confidence motion earlier in the day.

Imran Khan called on President Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly, or the lower house of Parliament, accusing his political opposition of working with the United States to overthrow his government.

Pakistan's constitution requires the establishment of an interim government to lead the country towards elections, which will be held within 90 days. In accordance with the Constitution, the interim government will be established with input from the opposition.

Khan's political opponents have called the decision of the Deputy Speaker of Parliament to dismiss his resolution of no trust as illegal and promised to go to the Supreme Court.

The battle between Khan, a cricket star turned conservative Islamic leader, and his political opposition has plunged the nation into political turmoil.

The vice president rejected the opposition's censorship resolution after Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry accused the opposition of colluding with a foreign power to organize a “regime change”.

Khan, who was not in Parliament, went to national television to say that he would ask the president of Pakistan to disband the body and hold elections.

“I ask people to prepare for the next election. Thank God, a conspiracy to overthrow the government has failed,” Khan said in his speech.

The opposition came to Parliament ready to remove Khan from power. They needed a simple majority of 172 votes in Pakistan's 342-seat parliament to unseat Khan, a cricket star turned conservative Islamic politician. The small but key partners of Khan's coalition, along with 17 of his own party members, joined the opposition to overthrow him.

Political turmoil also caused the country's security agencies to shut down the capital of Islamabad.

Giant metal containers blocked roads and entrances to the capital's diplomatic enclave and Parliament and other sensitive government facilities in the capital. A defiant Khan called on his supporters to organize demonstrations across the country to protest the vote.

Khan has accused the opposition of colluding with the United States to overthrow it, saying that the United States wants it to go above its foreign policy decisions that often favor China and Russia. Khan has also been a strident opponent of the US war on terror and Pakistan's association in that war with Washington.

Khan has circulated a memorandum insisting that it provides proof that Washington conspired with the Pakistani opposition to overthrow him because the United States wants “I, personally, to leave... and everything would be forgiven.”

A defeat for Khan would have given his opponents the opportunity to form a new government and rule until the elections, which were scheduled to take place next year.

Residents of Pakistan's largest province, Punjab, were ready to vote on Sunday for a new chief minister. Khan's election faced a difficult challenge and his opponents claimed that they had enough votes to install his election.

With 60% of Pakistan's 220 million inhabitants living in Punjab, it is considered the most powerful of the country's four provinces. Also on Sunday the government announced the removal of the provincial governor, whose role is largely ceremonial and is elected by the federal government. But it further deepened political turmoil in Pakistan.

Pakistan's major opposition parties, whose ideologies span the spectrum from left to right to radically religious, have been coming together for Khan's overthrow almost since he was elected in 2018.

Khan's victory was shrouded in controversy amid widespread allegations that Pakistan's powerful army helped his Tehreek Insaf (Justice) Party of Pakistan to victory.

Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert from the Washington-based US Peace Institute, said that the military's participation in the 2018 elections undermined Khan's legitimacy from the start.

“The movement against Imran Khan's government is inseparable from his controversial rise to power in the 2018 elections, which was manipulated by the army to push Khan over the line,” Mir said. “That really undermined the legitimacy of the electoral exercise and created the basis for the current turmoil.”

Pakistan's army has directly ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 75-year history, overthrowing successive democratically elected governments. For the rest of that time he has indirectly manipulated elected governments from the barrier.

The opposition has also accused Khan of economic mismanagement, blaming him for rising prices and high inflation. Still, the Khan government is credited with maintaining a foreign reserve account of $18 billion and the arrival of a record $29 billion last year from Pakistanis abroad.

Khan's anti-corruption reputation is credited with encouraging Pakistani expatriates to send money home. His government has also received international praise for its handling of the COVID-19 crisis and the implementation of so-called “smart lockdowns” instead of shutdowns across the country. As a result, several of Pakistan's key industries, such as construction, have survived.

Khan's leadership style has often been criticized as confrontational.

“Khan's biggest failure has been his insistence on remaining a partisan leader to the bitter end,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center.

“He hasn't been willing to extend a hand across the hall to his rivals,” Kugelman said. “He has remained stubborn and is not willing to make any major commitments. As a result, he has burned too many bridges at a time when he urgently needs all the help he can get.”

Khan's insistence that there is U.S. involvement in the attempts to overthrow him exploits a deep-rooted distrust among many in Pakistan of U.S. intentions, particularly after 9/11, Mir said.

Washington has often reprimanded Pakistan for doing too little to fight Islamic militants, even when thousands of Pakistanis have been killed in militant attacks and the army has lost more than 5,000 soldiers. Pakistan has been attacked for helping the Taliban insurgents, while being asked to bring them to the peace table.

“The fact that it has such easy traction in Pakistan speaks to some of the damage that US foreign policy has done in the post-9/11 era in general and in Pakistan in particular,” Mir said. “There is a reservoir of anti-American sentiment in the country, which can be easily exploited by politicians like Khan.”

(with information from AP)

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