Pakistan PM Khan says he will not resign ahead of no-confidence move

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ISLAMABAD (March 24): Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he will not resign, rejecting opposition calls to step down ahead of a no-confidence move against him in his toughest challenge since coming to power in 2018.

Pakistan's parliament will convene on Friday to start proceedings into the no-confidence motion, which could take seven days to actually go for voting to decide whether Khan will be removed.

The no-confidence move has risked constitutional, administrative, and economic crises amid a pending International Monetary Fund review to issue the next tranche of a US$6 billion rescue package, which was scheduled this week but has yet to happen.

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Sharif becomes new Pakistan PM after Khan ouster

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan lawmakers today elected Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister following the weekend ouster of Imran Khan, who resigned his national assembly seat – along with most of his party members – ahead of the vote.

Khan was dismissed yesterday after losing a no-confidence vote, paving the way for an unlikely alliance that faces the same issues, which bedevilled the cricket star-turned-politician.

Sharif immediately announced a raft of populist measures, including a new minimum wage of 25,000 rupees (around RM1,400), pay rises for civil servants, and development projects in rural areas.

Sharif, leader of the centrist Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), was the only candidate after Khan loyalist Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the former foreign minister, withdrew his candidacy and resigned his seat.

“It’s a victory of righteousness, and evil has been defeated,” Sharif said in his maiden speech as premier, to cheers from the remaining lawmakers.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party had 155 members of the 342-seat chamber before the mass resignations, and Sharif was elected with 174 votes.

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