Celebration in Pakistan as Imran Khan fails in no-confidence vote

Image credit: Reuters

Islamabad: The ouster of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has brought jubilation among its citizens ranging from ecstatic to happy reactions. "I would like to thank Allah for the victory. Our leaders will now lead the country to the path of progress," said a Pakistani national who was celebrating outside the Pakistan National Assembly over the defeat of Imran Khan in the vote of confidence on Saturday midnight.

Many Pakistani citizens were seen dancing and shouting slogans against Imran Khan terming him "chor Niazi".The full name of Imran Khan is Imran Khan Niazi and incidentally, he shares this name with General AAK Niazi who surrendered before the Indian Army in the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

"Today`s victory is the victory of labourers. The biggest thing is that Pakistan has been relieved of a `bad person` (referring to Imran Khan), said another Pakistani national. Imran Khan has become the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to lose a no-trust vote in the National Assembly.

Despite several attempts to block the no-confidence motion here in the National Assembly, the voting took place after midnight in which as many as 174 members voted in favour of the motion in the 342-member House while members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were absent.

The voting took place after a high political drama in the National Assembly with the Supreme Court overturning the decision of the Deputy Speaker to reject the opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the ruling PTI-led coalition.

Meanwhile, Senators who participated in the no-confidence motion also expressed their happiness over the result. "This is the victory of the Constitution, democracy. I feel that this will continue and will lead to the upliftment of minorities and society," said Mir Kabir from National Party."This is the victory of Pakistan and its Constitution," said Syed Agha Rafiullah from Pakistan Peoples Party.

Notably, no Prime Minister has completed full five-year tenure in Pakistan`s 75-year history. Pakistan, a parliamentary democracy for most of its history, has had a total of 29 prime ministers since 1947.

"It was all the prayers of the community that the country got rid of misgovernance of Imran Khan and countries breathe a sigh a relief. This is the day of happiness for the people of Pakistan," said a member of the National Assembly.

"Pakistan became independent in the month of Ramzan, today again we gained freedom from the misgovernance of Imran Khan," said another MNA.PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz tweeted that "The nightmare for my beloved Pakistan is over. Time to heal & repair."

PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique welcomed the nation back to "Purana (old) Pakistan".Activist Ammar Ali Jan said that "a clumsy attempt to sabotage the constitution has been defeated," adding, however, that "the struggle for people`s rights continues".

Journalist Cyril Almeida simply tweeted: "The hybrid regime is dead". "Imran Khan sets yet another new Pak record! Becomes the first PM to be ousted through a vote of no confidence,"quipped journalist Hasan Zaidi. Lawyer Reema Omer termed it "an ignominious end to a "hybrid" project that took democracy many steps back".