Imran Khan, who was ousted as Pakistan’s prime minister on Saturday,threatened to implement martial law rather than hand over power to theopposition, according to documents seen by the Guardian.
According to security officials and opposition figures, he attemptedseveral moves to hold on to power in the days and hours leading up to theno-confidence vote. However, he failed to stop it happening, and in thefinal minutes before midnight on Saturday, he was ousted from office.link
Khan had initially tried to stop the vote, which was first scheduled to beheard in the national assembly last weekend, by dissolving parliament andcalling for fresh elections, claiming the vote was part of a “foreignconspiracy” to topple him.
But this manoeuvre was frustrated by the supreme court, which declaredKhan’s actions in violation of the constitution and ordered for the vote togo ahead on Saturday.
On Friday, a senior minister from his ruling government sent a message toan opposition leader that read: “Martial law or elections – your choice.”
It appeared to threaten the opposition with the ultimatum that they shouldagree to Khan’s demand of fresh elections or he would bring in Pakistan’spowerful military to take control, as has happened repeatedly in thecountry’s history.
One figure from the opposition said it had refused the demand. “Imran Khanbelieved it should be him or no one,” they said.
According to security officials, on the day of the no-confidence vote,which Khan’s party delayed by 14 hours, the prime minister had thenattempted to sack the chief of the army in order to provoke the militaryinto taking control and impose martial law.
“Imran Khan wanted to sack the army chief, but the forces receivedinformation about it and they thwarted his plan after they came to knowabout it,” said a security official on condition of anonymity. “Khan wantedto create a huge crisis to remain in power.”
Khan’s ministers also appeared to be setting the stage for militaryintervention. “If martial law is imposed on the country, the oppositionparties would be responsible for this, as they have been involved in buyingand selling votes,” Fawad Chaudhry, then information minister, toldreporters on Saturday.
As the no-confidence vote continued to be obstructed and delayed by AsadQaisar, the speaker of the house and a close ally of Khan who was actingreportedly on direct instructions from him, the opposition leader, BilawalBhutto Zardari, told parliament: “Imran Khan wants the army to getinvolved.”
The chief justice also took the unprecedented steps of instructing thesupreme court to open its doors at midnight, to act in the event that Khanattempted to obstruct the legally mandated vote going ahead.
The allegations that Khan was trying to “remove the chief of the army stafffor furtherance of political interests” were also stated in a legalpetition filed to the Islamabad high court by the lawyer Adnan Iqbal onSaturday night.
While Khan’s rise to power appeared to have the backing of Pakistan’spowerful armed forces, in recent months there had been increasinglyapparent discord between him and the military establishment over a seniormilitary appointment.
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It appears that the friction between Khan and the military came to a headon Saturday night. Khan met with Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, the army’s chief ofstaff, that night after trying to remove him earlier in the day, accordingto Reuters. Local media reported Bajwa told Khan to accept his fate andstop interfering in the vote.
Finally, after the speaker dramatically resigned and just a few minutesbefore the midnight deadline, the vote took place in the national assembly.Khan, who no longer held a parliamentary majority, lost by 174 votes,making him Pakistan’s first prime minister to be removed by a vote of noconfidence.
The military, which has long denied interfering in Pakistani politics,rebutted all the allegations of its involvement in events leading up thevote, calling them “baseless rumours”. Chaudry, Khan’s former informationminister, also denied Khan’s attempts to usurp the vote.
“These fake stories are being spread to mislead the public and createanarchy in the country. All such malicious attempts will be defeated by thepeople of Pakistan,” said an official close to the army. “Pakistan armedforces are the guarantor of peace in Pakistan and the enemy is attemptingto tarnish the image of armed forces.”
On Monday, Shabhaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition coalition andbrother of the jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, will be sworn inas prime minister. He is expected to call elections in due course, likelyto be held after October.
In his first comments since he lost the vote, Khan repeated his allegationthat he had been the victim of a foreign conspiracy. “Pakistan became anindependent state in 1947, but the freedom struggle begins again todayagainst a foreign conspiracy of regime change. It is always the people ofthe country who defend their sovereignty and democracy,” he tweeted.
All members of Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, also announced onSunday they would be resigning en masse from the national assembly, aprocess that is likely to take a few months.
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