Pakistan’s parliament adjourned a debate on the political survival of Prime Minister Imran Khan after the opposition called for a no-confidence vote on the embattled premier.
Besieged by the opposition and abandoned by coalition partners, Mr Khan faces the greatest challenge so far in his political career. The opposition accuses him of economic mismanagement and claims he is unfit for the role of prime minister.
There was no immediate explanation for the adjournment of Thursday’s session, which was postponed within minutes of opening. Parliament was to reconvene on Sunday to begin the debate.
The actual vote on Mr Khan was expected in three to seven days after the start of the debate.
Analysts have predicted that Mr Khan would be ousted after a series of defections appear to have given his political opponents the 172 votes in the 342-seat house to push him out.
On Thursday, the leader of a key opposition party, Bilawal Bhutto, urged Khan to resign. “You have lost… You have only one option: Resign,” Mr Bhutto said.
Mr Khan came to power in 2018, promising to rid Pakistan of corruption even as he partnered with some of the country’s tainted old guard. He called them ‘electables’ — necessary to win elections because their wealth and vast land holdings guaranteed votes in large swaths of the country.
A former international cricket star turned politician, Khan has espoused a more conservative brand of Islam. He has also kept company with radical clerics, including Maulana Tariq Jameel, who once said that women in short skirts had caused the Covid-19 epidemic.
Still, Khan is credited with building the country’s foreign reserves, now over 18 billion dollars (£14 billion).
