Islamabad, March 31 (Prensa Latina) The Pakistani Parliament will debate today a motion of censure against Prime Minister Imran Khan, after two key allies left the ruling coalition.
The resolution against the prime minister was introduced by the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The position of the opposition parties was strengthened when the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Balochistan Awami Party joined their ranks.
Khan, a former captain of the national cricket team and founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Justice Movement, PTI) party, needs 172 votes in the 342-seat lower house to thwart the attempt to unseat him.
No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a five-year term in office, but neither has any of them been removed by a motion of no confidence, and Khan is the third to face this challenge.
On Tuesday, Khan ordered lawmakers from his party to abstain or not attend the National Assembly session on the day of the no-confidence vote, which is likely to be in the first week of April.
Khan came to power in 2018 but failed to tackle the essential problem of keeping commodity prices in check, giving the opposition air to challenge his rule.
His chances are diminishing and he urgently needs to recover the support of all the allies and win back the dissidents within his own PTI party.
The Pakistani Prime Minister has called a meeting of the National Security Committee for Thursday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said.
The news comes a day after Khan showed members of his cabinet, at a hastily convened meeting, a letter purporting to prove a foreign conspiracy to overthrow his government.
jcm/abm
