2020&ndash;2022 Pakistani political crises

2020–2022 Pakistani political crises

In 2022, Pakistani political crises began when the opposition submitted a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, which was followed by a political crisis in the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab and a constitutional crisis. A no-confidence motion against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was also filed by the opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly while PTI submitted a motion of no-confidence against their own Azad Kashmir prime minister.
PDM protests
No-confidence motion against Imran Khan
A no confidence motion was tabled against PM Imran Khan on the 28th of March 2022. This was followed by a slow trickle of allies going from the PTI led government to the PML-N led opposition. First came independent members and the Jamhoori Watan Party, followed by the BAP and defectors from the . However, the final death blow to the ruling coalition was the defection of the MQM-P. The opposition also claimed it had the support from a group of PTI MNAs led by ex-secretary general of the PTI, Jahangir Tareen. The PTI alleged that this was in violation of article 63(a) of the Pakistani constitution. The voting was scheduled to take place on 3rd April. However, the deputy speaker, Qasim Suri, refused to hold the vote, citing a foreign conspiracy against the government, and article 5 of the constitution. This was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Voting finally took place on 9th April, with Imran Khan losing the vote. Shehbaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan two days later, on the 11th of April.
Provincial Assembly of the Punjab crisis
After years of political pressure, the Chief Minister Usman Buzdar resigned. The resignation was accepted by the governor on the 1st of April 2022. The current speaker, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a member of the , was nominated by the and PTI for the role of chief minister, while the opposition parties, PML-N and PPP nominated Hamza Shehbaz of the . Due to the speaker being a contestant in the election, the deputy speaker, Dost Muhammad Mazari of the PTI was in charge of proceedings. The election, originally scheduled for the 16th of April was moved ahead to the 6th of April by the deputy speaker. However, the secretary assembly refused to comply with his orders, and a no confidence motion was moved against him by his own party.
Constitutional crisis
On the 3rd of April 2022, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri refused to hold a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister Imran Khan, citing article 5 of the Pakistani Constitution, and then proceeded to dissolve the National Assembly. He and the Prime Minister, along with other members of the ruling PTI, alleged a foreign conspiracy against them, with no evidence brought forth thus far. The Supreme Court took on the case suo moto and ruled 5-0 that the ruling was unconstitutional and the vote needed to take place on the 9th of April 2022
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly
On April 8, opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly filed a no-confidence motion against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan. The no-confidence motion was filed by Awami National Party parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak, provincial senior vice president Khush Dil Khan, MPA Shagufta Malik and others from the united opposition in the provincial assembly secretariat. The no-confidence motion has the signatures of more than 20 members.
2022 Pakistani protests

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