Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday urged the people to come out and defend against the ‘latest and the biggest assault’ on Pakistan’s sovereignty and democracy by a foreign power.

“It is the people who must come out & defend against this latest & biggest assault on Pakistan’s sovereignty & democracy by a foreign power through local collaborators – our Mir Jafars & Mir Sadiqs,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter.

He said the people were always the strongest defenders of a country’s sovereignty and democracy.

The prime minister was referring to the official communication from the United States government through Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington asking that all of Pakistan’s misgivings would be pardoned if the no-confidence motion against him succeeded.

However, the country would be in trouble if the no-confidence motion against the prime minister failed, according to the official communication.

This is the second time that PM Imran has asked the public to come out in support of him.

On April 2, a day before the expected voting on the no-confidence motion against him, he had called on the youth to protest for two days against a “foreign conspiracy” being hatched against his government.

A day later, on April 3, the National Assembly had to vote on the no-trust motion against the PM, but NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri ruled out the no-trust motion under Article 5. Subsequently, President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the PM’s advice and ordered fresh polls in the country.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri termed the no-confidence motion “unconstitutional”, saying that it was backed by “foreign powers”.

The ruling came after PM Imran on March 27 in a public rally, revealed that “foreign elements” are behind the no-confidence motion moved against his government and said, “some of our own people” are being used in this regard.

Later, he named the United States to be behind the conspiracy – an allegation that the country has dismissed as baseless.

Following the controversy, the National Security Committee (NSC) met on March 31 and decided Pakistan would issue a strong demarche to the country whose official communicated the “threat”.

However, the ruling of the deputy speaker plunged the country into a political crisis and on the same day Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial took notice of the political situation in the country and said that “any orders and actions that Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly shall be subject to the order of this court.”