Home ›› 12 Apr 2022 ›› Front
Pakistan’s parliament chose a more Western-friendly politician, Shehbaz Sharif, as prime minister on Monday, who addressed the leaders of other parties for assistance improving the economy.
“If we have to save the sinking boat, what we all need is hard work, and unity, unity and unity,” he said in his maiden speech to parliament, reports Reuters.
Sharif’s election completed the ousting of predecessor Imran Khan in a political crisis that has sparked street protests and a mass resignation of lawmakers.
Sharif, 70, is the younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Analysts say Shehbaz, unlike Nawaz, enjoys amicable relations with Pakistan’s military, which traditionally controls foreign and defence policy in the country of 220 million people.
After the vote, Sharif vowed to tackle an economic malaise that has seen the rupee hit an all-time low and the central bank implement the biggest hike in interest rates in decades last week, reports Reuters.
Reset ties
Sharif said in an interview last week good relations with the United States were critical for Pakistan for better or for worse. In his maiden speech, he also spoke of improving relations with neighbours India and China.
“We want good relations with India but a durable peace can’t be possible without Kashmir’s solution,” he said, referring to the contested Himalayan territory the countries have fought several wars over.
He said his government will speed up construction of the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - a part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Defeat not taken well
No prime minister has ever served a full term in Pakistan, but Khan is the first to lose office via a vote of no-confidence -- a defeat he has not taken well.
He tried everything to stay in power after losing his majority in parliament -- including dissolving the assembly and calling a fresh election.
But the Supreme Court deemed all his actions illegal and ordered them to reconvene and vote.
Khan insists he has been the victim of a “regime change” conspiracy involving Washington and his opponents, and has vowed to take his fight to the streets in the hope of forcing an early election, AFP reported.
A ‘neutral’ army behind the fall
When Imran Khan was elected prime minister in 2018, he seemed to have almost everything in his favour.
A national hero from his cricketing days, he had transformed into a charismatic politician and, after years of struggle, managed to supplant the two rival established political dynasties that had dominated Pakistan for decades.
The reason his position appeared so secure, however, also helps explain his downfall. Both sides deny it, but it’s widely acknowledged he came to power with the help of Pakistan’s powerful army and intelligence services - and now he has fallen out with them, reports BBC.
But he also had the covert backing of what in Pakistan is referred to as “the establishment” or the military. The army has either directly or indirectly controlled the country for most of its existence, and critics labelled Imran Khan’s government a “hybrid regime”.
The support for Khan exemplified itself in a host of different ways. The results worried civil society activists, with a spate of attacks and abductions targeting journalists and commentators critical of both Khan’s government and the intelligence services.
Khan has insisted his focus is on improving governance, and he has made some impressive expansions to the social welfare system, introducing a health insurance scheme in large parts of the country, for example.
However, in other areas he has faltered. His decision to appoint an inexperienced and underqualified political newcomer to a key position, chief minister of Punjab, the country’s most populous province, was widely ridiculed.
There were other challenges, too. The cost of living in Pakistan has been rocketing up, with sharp rises in food prices and the rupee falling against the dollar.
Imran Khan’s supporters blame global conditions, but public resentment against him has been rising.
Meanwhile, his opponents were becoming increasingly vocal in their opposition to the military.
The dynamic changed dramatically last year. A number of observers told the BBC the army began to grow increasingly frustrated with Khan’s failure to deliver good governance, particularly in Punjab, and perhaps at how they were being publicly blamed for bringing him into power by the opposition.
When Imran Khan’s opponents began plotting a vote of no confidence, and sounding out potential defectors from within his party and coalition allies, a number of sources told the BBC, the military made clear that they were going to be “neutral” on this occasion.
Journalist Kamran Yousaf told the BBC that the military had been involved in “managing” Imran Khan’s allies and slim majority in government. “Once that support was missing, his downfall was inevitable,” he said.
