Pakistan PM Imran Khan holds emergency meeting of his Cabinet

PTI

Islamabad, April 9

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan held an emergency meeting of his Cabinet on Saturday night, even though his government is expected to lose a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly, according to local media reports.

Khan summoned the Cabinet meeting at 9pm at the Prime Ministers’ House here. Important decisions are expected in the meeting, Geo News reported quoting high-level sources.

The meeting, which is being attended by the top ministers, was still underway.

The meeting has taken many by surprise as Khan has little chance of surviving the no confidence motion against him.

The joint Opposition need 172 members in the 342-member house to oust Prime Minister Khan. They have garnered the support of more than the needed strength with the help of some allies of the ruling coalition and rebels from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Khan, who has been saying that he will fight till the “last ball”, may delay the Opposition parties’ no-confidence vote by making his Members of National Assembly make lengthy speeches on the purported “foreign conspiracy” in bringing down his government, the sources said.

Khan has been claiming that the Opposition’s no-confidence motion against him was the result of a “foreign conspiracy” because of his independent foreign policy and funds were being channelled from abroad to oust him from power. In an address to the nation on Friday, the 69-year-old prime minister reiterated his allegations that a senior US diplomat threatened regime change in Pakistan.

The US has bluntly rejected the allegations. PTI