No-confidence motion against Imran Khan

No-confidence motion against Imran Khan
Date	9 April 2022
Location	Parliament of Pakistan
Outcome	Prime minister Imran Khan removed from office; Shehbaz Sharif becomes the new prime minister.; Start of a nationwide protest campaign by Imran Khan against the new government;

The no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, Pakistan’s then-prime minister, was moved on 10 April 2022 and ultimately led to his removal from office. The opposition parties, united under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), had been planning the move for weeks, capitalising on Khan’s growing rift with the military establishment and internal defections from his own party, the PTI. On 8 March 2022, the opposition formally filed the motion in the National Assembly, accusing Khan’s government of poor governance, economic mismanagement, and political crackdowns on opponents.

The situation escalated when Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri dismissed the motion on grounds of alleged “foreign interference”, while Khan dissolved the assembly through President Arif Alvi, triggering a constitutional crisis. However, the Supreme Court later overturned these actions, declaring them unconstitutional and allowing the no-confidence vote to proceed. On 10 April, the motion passed with 174 votes (out of 342), marking Khan as Pakistan’s first PM to lose a confidence vote. The next day, Shehbaz Sharif of the PML-N was elected unopposed as the new prime minister, and his cabinet was sworn in on 19 April.

Khan initially blamed the US for his ouster, citing a diplomatic cable, but later shifted blame to Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, rather than the US. The political upheaval highlighted deepening divisions within Pakistan’s political and military circles.

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