Imran on sticky wicket as political future hangs by the thread

By Hamza Ameer

Islamabad, April 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is faced with the biggest challenge of his political career, as the opposition political parties join hands against him with an aim to end, not only his ruling government, but also his political career.

The end of the road for Imran Khan is coming closer and closer as opposition benches are confident to oust him through the no-confidence motion voting, to be held on Sunday.

The opposition parties have already confirmed support from the ruling coalition partners and many other defected members of Imran Khan's ruling party -- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) -- who have decided to join the opposition benches against Khan.

It seems eminent that Khan's future now hangs by a thread as he sees his government toppling, not only in the Federal system but also in another strong hold of Punjab province, which is also being taken over by his arch-rival party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which has aligned itself with Khan's defected political group Jahangir Tareen group, to confirm its majority against the PTI members and sail through the process of voting.

With everything falling to pieces for Khan, Sunday may see the end of his ruling tenure as the Prime Minister as the number game to gain simple majority in the National Assembly -- which has 342 members and Khan needs at least 172 votes to stay in power -- seems to be an unachievable target.

At the moment, the opposition commands at least 175 votes to the government's 164. And with many defected members of PTI siding with the opposition, their support is expected to go further up to at least 200 or more on Sunday.

Khan, however, does not plan to go down without a fight as he terms his opposition as a team of 'corrupt thieves', playing to the hands of foreign facilitators to oust his government, which he says has been the first to stand ground on national interest, dignity and sovereignty.

Khan has claimed that western powers, including the United States, are conspiring to topple his government by using his opposition parties.

Khan said that his trip to Russia, country's refusal to be part of the western bloc, country's inclination towards China and his efforts towards making an independent foreign policy for Pakistan have irked the west, which is why they have plotted a plan with the opposition parties to take him off power.

Analyst believe that Khan is now gearing himself up to launch a stronger political campaign and reach out to the public with an agenda to carry the narrative eyeing the next elections, which would be held in the coming months.

Source: IANS