PM Imran Khan to address nation on Friday; vows to fight till the last ball

Islamabad, Apr 7 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday announced that he would address the nation on Friday evening after his government suffered a setback following the Supreme Court’s decision.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday restored the National Assembly after it declared the government’s decision to dissolve the assembly and NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling against the Constitution.

Khan said a meeting of the PTI’s parliamentary committee would also be convened on Friday and he would “continue to fight for Pakistan till the last ball”.

“I have called a cabinet mtg tomorrow as well as our parl party mtg; & tomorrow evening I will address the nation. My message to our nation is I have always & will continue to fight for Pak till the last ball,” Khan, the 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician tweeted.

The top court has ordered National Assembly Speaker Asad Qasier to summon the session on Saturday and not later than 10:30 am to allow the vote on the no-confidence motion against the premier.

During a meeting with the government’s legal team earlier in the day, the prime minister had said he was ready to accept any decision that the top court would announce, sources were quoted as saying by Geo News.

“We will accept any decision the Supreme Court announces. PTI is ready for elections and we will not let any foreign conspiracy succeed,” the prime minister had told the meeting’s participants.

Although the Opposition has welcomed the top court’s historic order, the government representatives are not happy with it and termed the decision as “unfortunate” which would push the country towards further “political turmoil”.

Shortly after the order, Minister for Information and Law Fawad Chaudhry said a change in government would force Pakistan to start “the struggle from March 23, 1940,” as he tried to portray a picture of the country under the Opposition’s rule, the report said.

“We will have to struggle again for an independent Pakistan. The Opposition is trying to push Pakistan towards slavery; we will not let them succeed,” Fawad, who has now been restored as the federal minister after the court’s order, said during a conversation with journalists.

The information and law minister, in a tweet, said it was “unfortunate that the decision is now pushing the country towards further political turmoil”, as early elections could have brought stability.

In a landmark 5-0 verdict, a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial ruled that the deputy speaker’s ruling was “contrary to the Constitution and the law and of no legal effect, and the same are hereby set aside.” The opposition parties need 172 members in the 342-member house to orchestrate the downfall of Prime Minister Khan and already they showed the support of more than the needed strength.

Now Khan faces the possibility of being the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be voted out in a no-confidence motion.

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. The current term of the National Assembly was to end in August 2023.

No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office.

PTI AMS AKJ AMS