Accept Supreme Court’s decision but won’t recognise any ‘imported govt’: Imran Khan

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday said he would accept the Supreme Court's verdict on a no-confidence motion, but added he would not recognise an opposition government if it succeeded in an attempt to oust him, the latest twist in a political crisis engulfing the nuclear-armed nation. 

The country's top court ruled late on Thursday that Khan must face the no-confidence vote, which he is widely expected to lose, meaning he would be ousted from office.

A session of the lower house of parliament has been called for 10:30 am (0530 GMT) today, the speaker's office said in an order paper. The vote, brought by the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, is the fourth point on the agenda.

The opposition says it has more than 172 votes in the 342-seat assembly, which needs a quarter of members present for a quorum.

A former cricket star who took office in 2018, Khan said he was disappointed but accepted the Supreme Court ruling that he had acted unconstitutionally in blocking the no-confidence vote when it was due to take place last Sunday, after which he dissolved parliament and called an election.

"I am saddened by the verdict, but I accept it," the premier said at the start of his speech addressing the nation.

Khan said he was also saddened at the haste with which the court made its decision.

"There was foreign interference in Pakistan's no-confidence (vote). I wanted the SC to at least look at it. It was a very serious allegation that a foreign country wants to topple the government through a conspiracy."

He said he would not recognise any opposition government that replaced him.

"I will not accept an imported government," he said in a late-night address, suggesting the move to oust him was part of a foreign conspiracy and calling for peaceful protests tomorrow.

"I'm ready for a struggle."

The crisis has threatened political and economic stability in the country of 220 million people, where the military has ruled for half its history.

Khan, who opposed the US-led intervention in Afghanistan and has developed relations with Russia since becoming prime minister, has accused the United States of supporting a plot to oust him. Washington has dismissed the accusation.

If he loses the no-confidence vote, the opposition will put forward a candidate for prime minister.

Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said after the court ruling that the opposition had nominated him to take over should Khan be ousted.

The embattled Pakistan PM accused the opposition of open horse-trading and "buying and selling of consciences of lawmakers".

"Every child knows the price at which consciences are being sold," he said, adding that "politicians are not sold this way even in banana republics".

The opposition has said it wants early elections but only after delivering Khan a political defeat and passing legislation that it says is needed to ensure the next polls are free and fair.

The election commission has said the earliest it can hold elections is in October, which means any new government will have to deal with pressing economic issues before that.

Political analyst Hasan Askari told AFP any new government will still have to deal with the underlying issues.

"Conflict and confrontation will persist... the prospects of political harmony and long-term stability are minimal," he said.

Pakistan has been wracked by political crises for much of its 75-year existence, and no prime minister has ever seen out a full term.

Publicly the military appears to be keeping out of the current fray, but there have been four coups since independence in 1947 and the country has spent more than three decades under army rule.