ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has called on supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to prepare for fresh elections, saying they would be held in the next three months.

Khan’s comments come as Pakistan’s top court is hearing arguments on whether the PM and his allies had the legal right to dissolve parliament last Sunday and set the stage for early elections. Khan has said the opposition’s campaign to remove him is a US-backed conspiracy. The US has denied the charge.

Speaking during an address at the Governor’s House on Tuesday, Khan reiterated his allegations of a “foreign conspiracy” and called those behind it “traitors,” saying elections would be held in three months.

“What kind of democracy is this where you buy the members to overthrow a government,” asked the prime minister.

“These traitors are betraying democracy as well as future generations,” he said, calling for “exemplary punishment for betraying the country” for members of the opposition.

On Sunday, Khan’s ally and Pakistan’s deputy parliament speaker, Qasim Suri, dissolved the assembly to sidestep a no-confidence vote that Khan appeared certain to lose. The opposition claims the deputy speaker had no constitutional authority to throw out the no-confidence vote.

The developments marked the latest in an escalating dispute between Khan and the opposition, which has been backed by defectors from the prime minister’s own party and former coalition partners which had joined opposition ranks. The opposition claims it had the numbers to oust Khan in parliament.

The current political conundrum is in many ways unchartered territory, even for Pakistan, where successive governments have been overthrown by the military and others ousted before their term ended.