ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan will continue to be the prime minister of Pakistan until a caretaker premier is appointed to replace him, the Pakistani president said on Monday, as the South Asian country grapples with a political and constitutional crisis.
Khan lost his majority in parliament last week after defections from his party’s lawmakers and announcements by coalition partners they were joining the opposition.
He faced a no-confidence vote on Sunday, but the deputy speaker of parliament, a member of Khan’s party, blocked the motion that Khan had widely been expected to lose, ruling that it was part of a foreign conspiracy and therefore “unconstitutional.”
The Pakistani president then dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of the prime minister so new elections could be held.
“Mr. Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, shall continue as Prime Minister till the appointment of caretaker Prime Minister under Article 224 A (4) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” the President’s Secretariat said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the Cabinet Secretariat had issued a notification saying Khan had “ceased to hold the office of the prime minister of Pakistan with immediate effect.” However, Article 94 of the Constitution allows the president to “ask the Prime Minister to continue to hold office until his successor enters upon the office of Prime Minister.”
Article 224 says a general election to the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly will be held within a period of sixty days “immediately following the day on which the term of the Assembly is due to expire, unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days before that day.”
“On dissolution of the Assembly on completion of its term, or in case it is dissolved under Article 58 or Article 112, the President, or the Governor, as the case may be, shall appoint a care-taker Cabinet.
“Provided that the care-taker Prime Minister shall be selected by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly, and a care-taker Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assembly.
“Provided further that the Members of the Federal and Provincial caretaker Cabinets shall be appointed on the advice of the care-taker Prime Minister or the care-taker Chief Minister, as the case may be.”
