Imran Khan has been ousted as Pakistani Prime Minister after a no-confidence motion against him was passed in Parliament with 174 members voting in favour of the resolution.
Minutes before voting began, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser resigned from his post, saying he could not take part in a foreign conspiracy to oust the prime minister.
Qaiser said that he had received “important documents” from the cabinet, which he invited the leader of the opposition and the Chief Justice of Pakistan to see.
Shehbaz Sharif, who is the opposition’s candidate for the post of prime minister, vowed that the “new regime would not indulge in politics of revenge.”
“I don’t want to go back to bitterness of the past. We want to forget them and move forward. We will not take revenge or do injustice; we will not send people to jail for no reason, law and justice will take its course,” he said.
Pakistan People’s Party leader Bilawal Bhutto congratulated the house for passing a no-confidence resolution against a premier for the first time in history.
“Today is April 10, 2022, and the one we had declared selected, the non-democratic burden this country was bearing for the past 3 years, today, April 10, 2022, welcome back to purana (old) Pakistan.”
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
“I have been a member of this house for 3-4 years and I have learned a lot in these years. My message to youth is that they should never give up on their dreams, nothing is impossible … democracy is the best revenge,” he said.
The passing of the motion came after the country’s Supreme Court ruled Khan acted unconstitutionally in previously blocking the process and dissolving parliament.
No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a five-year term in office in the country’s 75-year history.
Anticipating his loss, Khan, who alleged the opposition colluded with the United States to unseat him, on Friday called on his supporters to stage rallies nationwide on Sunday.
Khan may try to keep the momentum of street protests as a way to pressure parliament to hold early elections.
Khan earlier tried to sidestep the vote by dissolving parliament and calling early elections, but a Supreme Court ruling ordered the vote to go ahead.
