Pak PM Imran Khan loses majority after key ally sides with Opposition ahead of no-trust vote
Islamabad, Mar 30: Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday effectively lost majority in Parliament after a key partner of the ruling coalition joined the ranks of the Opposition, which has tabled a no-confidence motion against his government in the National Assembly.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), a key ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government, with its seven members announced that it has parted ways with the government during a joint press conference of the opposition parties here.
Prime Minister Khan needs 172 votes in the lower house of 342 to foil the Opposition's bid to topple him. However, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islama Fazl (JUI-F), said that the Opposition has the support of 175 lawmakers and the prime minister should resign.
It was also announced that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif would be next prime minister of the country after removal of 69-year-old Khan.
"We want to make a new beginning for politics of tolerance and true democracy," MQM-P chief Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told reporters. "I announce to support the opposition in the parliament."
Sharif said that it was an important day as all opposition parties have joined together to address the problems faced by Pakistan. "The premier, even if he is a selected one, should resign to set a new tradition," he said.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said the support by MQM was a big development and with this the prime minister has lost the majority. "The prime minister has no option and he will have to resign," he said.
Bilawal also said that Sharif will soon be elected as the next prime minister.
Another ally of the ruling coalition, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) with five members in the lower house had announced on Monday that it had "accepted the opposition's invitation" to vote against Khan.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that Prime Minister Khan will address the nation on Wednesday evening and discuss the prevailing political situation.
Briefly talking to the media after a special session of cabinet, which was chaired by the premier, Rashid said Khan also shared a "threatening letter" with the cabinet colleagues, who in return expressed complete trust in him.
Addressing a mammoth rally in the national capital on Sunday, Khan had claimed that foreign powers were involved in a conspiracy to topple his coalition government. He pulled a document from his pocket to exhibit it for the charged crowd, saying it was the letter sent to threaten him.
To a question if Khan would announce his resignation in his speech, Rashid said: "No way. He will fight till the last ball."
The minister also said that Khan himself or foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi may also brief the parliament in-camera about the threatening letter.
Earlier, Prime Minister Khan summoned a special session of the federal cabinet.
The cabinet members and those invited to attend the special session were taken into confidence about the threatening document letter that the premier said was proof of a foreign conspiracy to topple his government.
Pakistan plunged into uncertainty on March 8 after the combined opposition submitted the motion with the National Assembly, which will convene on Thursday to debate the motion.
Earlier in the day, two MQM-P lawmakers, Farogh Naseem and Aminul Haque, serving as federal ministers, submitted their resignations to the prime minister.
The PTI has 155 members in the 342-member National Assembly and needs at least 172 lawmakers to retain power. Khan is also facing a rebellion by his about two dozen lawmakers and allied parties.
No prime minister in Pakistan's history has ever been ousted through a no-confidence motion, and Khan is the third premier to face the challenge.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Khan strictly directed his party lawmakers to either abstain or not attend the National Assembly session on the day of voting on the no-confidence motion against him, which is likely to be held in the first week of April.
Khan came to power in 2018 with promises to create a Naya Pakistan' but miserably failed to address the basic problem of keeping the prices of commodities in control, giving air to the sails of opposition ships to make war on his government.
His chances of survival are getting slimmer and the easiest way to end the uncertainty is getting back support of all allies and winning back dissidents within his own party.
No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
