Facing certain defeat in a no-confidence vote in parliament, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan chose the easy but unscrupulous and unconstitutional way out – he ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly and called for fresh elections. As per Pakistan’s Constitution, parliament is bound to conduct voting on a no-confidence motion and the Prime Minister cannot dissolve the House while the process is on. To circumvent this, Khan had the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly reject the no-trust vote tabled in the House. As the campaign to oust him through a no-confidence vote gathered steam in recent weeks, Khan had grandly said that he would “play till the last ball”, which was widely interpreted as suggesting that he would play to the end but play by the rules. His actions over the weekend point to the contrary. If the rules of the game did not suit him, he would simply ignore the rules. Only, the rules he has trashed are not of a cricket match but the Pakistan Constitution itself. Khan has laid bare his contempt for democracy, parliamentary procedure and the Constitution.
Like all authoritarian figures, he has sought to justify his move with the unsubstantiated claim that the no-confidence motion was a foreign – in fact, American – conspiracy against him. This may reinforce the fears of Pakistani conspiracy theorists and anti-US sections but will otherwise do little good for Pakistan’s ties with the US. Indeed, it is said to have ruffled the feathers of the Pakistani military, which prefers to hold on to its long ties with the US.
The battle has now moved to the Supreme Court. It will have to rule on the constitutional validity of the Deputy Speaker's action of rejecting the no-trust motion. If the apex court rules that he was out of line in doing so, parliament will reconvene and vote on the motion. If not, Pakistan will head to early elections. Additionally, the court could ask for a probe into the allegation that a foreign conspiracy prompted the no-trust motion. Such a probe could take time and delay a judicial decision. Meanwhile, all eyes are on the military. It has so far maintained that it has nothing to do with the political process. Do the Generals mean it? Or will the temptation to step in to “clean up the mess made by politicians”, the military’s oft-repeated excuse for staging a coup, prove hard to resist? Political instability, contempt for the constitution and assaults on democracy are not new to Pakistan. But as its neighbour, India must worry that it is once again heading into turbulent waters.