ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's politics was thrown into disarray on Sunday after the prime minister Imran Khan asked the president to dissolve parliament, interrupting a session where he was to face a no-confidence motion that had seemed likely to succeed. That came after more than a dozen of his own lawmakers and at least one coalition ally announced their support for the opposition this week. A spokeswoman for a chief opposition party known as the PML-N said they would challenge the move in the Supreme Court, arguing that Khan was no longer prime minister because his governing coalition had fallen apart and he did not command a majority in parliament. In a speech on television, Khan told the nation to prepare for an election, but opposition said he had no right to call a national vote. It had been expected that Khan would lose a no confidence vote. The opposition needed a simple majority of 172 votes in Pakistan's 342-seat Parliament to unseat Khan, a cricket star turned conservative Islamic politician. Khan's small but key coalition partners along with 17 of his own party members have joined the opposition to oust him. On Sunday, giant metal containers blocked roads and entrances to the capital's diplomatic enclave and to Parliament and other sensitive government installations in the capital. A defiant Khan called for supporters to stage demonstrations countrywide to protest the vote. Khan has accused the opposition of being in cahoots with the United States to unseat him, saying America wants him gone over his foreign policy choices that often favor China and Russia. Khan has also been a strident opponent of America's war on terror and Pakistan's partnership in that war with Washington. Khan has circulated a memo which he insists provides proof that Washington conspired with Pakistan's opposition to unseat him because America wants "me, personally, gone ... and everything would be forgiven."A no confindence vote loss for Khan would have given his opponents the opportunity to form a new government and rule until elections, which are scheduled to be held next year. The opposition could also choose to call early elections. Pakistan's main opposition parties, whose ideologies span the spectrum from left to right to radically religious, have been rallying for Khan's ouster almost since he was elected in 2018. Khan's win was mired in controversy amid widespread accusations that Pakistan's powerful army helped his Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (Justice) Party to an election win. Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert with the Washington-based U. S. Institute of Peace, said the military's involvement in the 2018 polls undermined Khan's legitimacy from the outset."The movement against Imran Khan's government is inseparable from his controversial rise to power in the 2018 election, which was manipulated by the army to push Khan over the line," said Mir. "That really undermined the legitimacy of the electoral exercise and created the grounds for the current turmoil.
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