Imran Khan dissolves parliament amid reports of U.S.-parliament collusion

TEHRAN — On Sunday, Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, single-handedly stood against what he called “falsehood and treason,” and dissolved the parliament, as well as the cabinet, on the charges of colluding with the U.S. to overthrow him.

Khan escaped a bid to be deposed as Pakistan’s prime minister on Sunday when the deputy speaker of parliament ruled that a no-confidence motion was illegal.

Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of Prime Minister Khan, Geo News reported.

“I call upon the people of Pakistan to prepare for elections,” Khan said. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib has said that elections will be held within 90 days.

Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, accused the government of violating the Constitution and added that their lawyers were on their way to the Supreme Court.

A large crowd of Khan’s supporters gathered outside the parliament, chanting, “Imran Khan will save Pakistan…Whoever is America’s friend is a traitor.”

Pakistan’s Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial has reached the Supreme Court to review petitions filed by opposition leaders against the dissolution of the country’s National Assembly, television channel Dunya News reported.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said the federal government had removed Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar from his post upon Khan’s request, appointing Omer Sarfraz Cheema as his replacement, Dawn reported.

Unconfirmed reports on social media claim that Mohammad Sarwar was a part of the plot to topple Khan.

The opposition quickly threatened to fight the vote block placed by a member of the premier’s political party, while Khan asked the country’s president to dissolve parliament and call for early elections.

Imran Khan is the third Pakistani prime minister to face a no-confidence challenge from the opposition in parliament.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan reacted to the decision of the speaker of Parliament to use his powers to reject the no-confidence motion against the prime minister and then the dissolution of Parliament by the president.

Pakistan’s army said on Sunday it was not involved in politics.

“Army has nothing to do with the political process,” Major General Babar Iftikhar, the head of the military’s public relations wing, told Reuters in response to a question about the institution’s involvement in Sunday’s developments.

The Pakistani judiciary has instructed a special committee to look closely at how the deputy speaker rejected the vote of no confidence.

The story began on Friday when Khan said his administration delivered an official protest to the U.S. embassy in protest of what it called Washington’s meddling in the country’s affairs.

“We have now submitted a demarche to (the) American embassy,” Khan said in an interview with local news channel ARY, alluding to a diplomatic note he described as a foreign conspiracy to depose him from power.

Khan stated in a nationally televised address on Thursday that a Western country was dissatisfied with his travel to Moscow. He made a passing reference to the United States before appreciatively correcting himself to “a foreign country.” However, in an interview with the ARY TV on Friday, Khan mentioned the United States.

The White House denied that Washington was attempting to depose Khan from power.

The U.S. embassy in Islamabad did not respond to a request for comment right away.

On Friday, members of Pakistan’s ruling party organized a demonstration against the United States in the northern city of Peshawar.

Dozens of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ruling party members, led by a provincial minister, marched in Peshawar’s center, yelling “Down with America!”

“We have come out to support Imran Khan, who has opposed capitalist powers,” Taimur Jhagra, the minister, said during the event.

“We will choose famine than submit to the U.S.,” declared Fazal Elahi, another provincial politician at the protest.

Some anti-U.S. Shia activists reacted to Khan’s statements by conducting a march in Islamabad and burning American flags.

Also, protesters headed by a governing party MP marched in Karachi, chanting anti-American slogans.

As of writing this article, this rapid chain of events in Pakistan is constantly being updated, but what is more important is that why would Washington want to collude with the parliamentarians to oust Khan?

Known for his prominent political positions against the United States, Khan approached Iran, Russia and China, the Bermuda triangle that could swallow up the U.S. in the Eurasian region. The U.S., which has lost influence in the region, could not withstand losing yet another opportunity, right after the embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan. So, what could the geniuses at the…