‘Nobody can dictate terms to India’, says Imran Khan in address to Pakistanis

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan praised India’s self-respecting population during an address to the people of Pakistan on Friday (April 8), a day before the no-confidence vote that may remove him as the certain to dismiss him.

“No superpower can force India to do anything against its interests. They (India) are buying oil from Russia despite sanctions. Nobody can dictate India. What the European Union ambassadors said here, could they say that to India also?” he asked and added that they could not because India is a sovereign nation.

This was not the first time when Prime Minister Khan has praised India to the surprise of Opposition parties.

Last week, he praised India for its independent foreign policy. “They protect their independent foreign policy which is centred on its people,” he had said.

A defiant Khan that he will not accept any “imported government” in Pakistan as he expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court’s verdict on the National Assembly Deputy Speaker’s controversial decision on the rejection of no-trust motion against him.

Khan, 69, asked his supporters to join him on the street on Sunday evening. “I respect the Supreme Court and the judiciary, but the apex court should have looked at a threat letter before issuing its verdict,” Khan said in his address – perhaps last to the nation as Prime Minister of the country.

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Khan, who has effectively lost the majority in the 342-member House, repeated his allegations that a US diplomat threatened regime change in Pakistan.

In a landmark 5-0 verdict, a five-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday unanimously struck down the Deputy Speaker’s ruling on the rejection of the no-confidence motion against Khan and ordered restoration of the National Assembly, saying the Prime Minister’s move to dissolve Parliament and call early elections was “unconstitutional”.

The court also ordered the Speaker of the Lower House to call the session of the National Assembly on April 9 at 10 am (local time) to organise a no-confidence vote. It ordered the election of the new Prime Minister if the no-confidence motion succeeded.

The Opposition parties need 172 members in the 342-member House to orchestrate the downfall of Prime Minister Khan and already they showed the support of more than the needed strength.

Now Khan faces the possibility of being the first Prime Minister in Pakistan’s history to be voted out in a no-confidence motion.

If you love India so much, go settle there: Pakistan opposition leader

Pakistan’s Opposition leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Saturday lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for lavishing praise on India, saying he should go to the neighbouring country if he likes it so much.

The remarks of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam, who is the daughter of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, came after Khan called India a “nation with a great sense of honour”.

Prime Minister Khan, in an address to the nation on Friday night ahead of the no-trust motion where he has little chances of surviving unless some miracle takes place, said that he was not against India and had a lot of following in the neighbouring country.

Responding to his remarks, Maryam said that Khan has “gone mad”.

“Someone should tell a person who has gone mad after seeing this power gone that he has been expelled by his own party and no one else.

“If you like India so much then shift there and leave the life of Pakistan,” the 48-year-old PML-N leader said.

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Meanwhile, the Opposition has completed its initial talks for the formation of a new government once Prime Minister Khan is ousted. Plans are afoot for the removal of President Alvi and the return of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif from the UK, The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Friday.

Shehbaz, 70, who is the Opposition’s candidate for the new prime minister, will announce his possible government priorities after taking the oath.

All Opposition parties will be given proportional representation in the new possible federal government.