Clean bowled! Imran Khan is first Pakistan PM to be ousted through no-confidence vote

Islamabad, Apr 10: The Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf chief Imran Khan on Sunday became the first Pakistan Prime Minister to be ousted through no-confidence vote in Pakistan's history. Imran Khan loses no-trust motion with 174 members voting against him in Pakistan's National Assembly.

Khan, 69, was not present in the lower house at the time of voting. His party lawmakers staged a walkout. The joint Opposition - a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious parties - secured the support of 174 members in the 342-member National Assembly, more than the needed strength of 172 to oust the prime minister on a day full of drama and multiple adjournments of the lower house.

No prime minister in Pakistan's history was ever ousted through a no-confidence motion. Khan is the first premier whose fate was decided through a trust vote.

Interestingly, for Pakistan National Assembly, which has notably never seen a Prime Minister complete the full 5-year-tenure and this is not going to be the first no-confidence motion against an elected leader.

Meanwhile, a request has been put in Islamabad High Court to put Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Fawad Chaudhary be put on exit control lists, as per Pakistan's Geo News.

Khan, 69, surged to power in 2018 with the military's support, but recently lost his parliamentary majority when allies quit his coalition government. He was dogged by claims of economic mismanagement as his government battled depleting foreign exchange reserves and double-digit inflation.

He apparently also lost support of the powerful Army after he refused to endorse the appointment of the ISI spy agency chief last year. Finally he agreed but it soured his ties with the powerful Army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 years of existence and has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.