Pakistan politics rocked hard amid global turmoil as all eyes on Supreme Court

As the Supreme Court of Pakistan weighs motions that can decide the direction of the country's government, experts point to the significance of sound political environment for economic recovery and sustained development.

Pakistan's National Assembly, or the lower house of the parliament, was announced to dissolve on Sunday following a series of events. Government head Imran Khan nominated former chief justice Gulzar Ahmed as the caretaker prime minister and called for earlier than scheduled elections. The opposition challenged the constitutionality of the dissolving at the Supreme Court.

All these emerged when an alliance of major opposition parties delivered a no-confidence motion for then Prime Minister Imran Khan. The alliance claimed to have 177 member representations in the National Assembly, five votes more than the required to de-seat the prime minister.

However, foreign involvement was alleged behind the moves against the government. Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said on Saturday that the United States attempted to topple the Pakistani government by sending threatening words and is now making false denial.

On Sunday, Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry said the no-confidence vote is an "effective operation of regime change by a foreign government," which has joined hands with locals to topple the Pakistani government through the motion.

The opposition in general and the US government have denied the allegations.

In his video message, Mazari said: "Has the US government ever spoken the truth? It has always been telling lies to the world. It even lied to the UN about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but later the lies were exposed, showing that the US spoke blatant lies to very prestigious senior officials of the UN."

Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, deciding to dissolve the lower house, also rejected the no-confidence motion, citing article 5 of the Constitution that "no foreign government is allowed to conduct regime change operations against an elected government".

On Sunday, Imran Khan, in a televised address to the nation, said he had sent an advice to the president to dissolve the National Assembly, calling for an interim government before going for fresh elections. The general election was originally scheduled for next year.

The court, adjourning its hearing on Wednesday after first adjournment on Monday, is expected to ponder the situation scrupulously, with more hearings on Thursday or even Friday, according to sources.

Pakistan has chosen carefully not to toe the US line during the Ukraine-Russia crisis. And Imran Khan's visit to Russia on Feb 23-24 also did not echo well in Washington.

A meeting of the National Security Committee on March 31 took notice of the foreign attempt to topple the government and an official demarche was made through official channels to the US embassy in Pakistan. However, Bloomberg reported Ned Price, the spokesman of US State Department, said the allegations have "no truth" in them.

Wang Shida, deputy director of Institute of South Asian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the diplomatic relations between Pakistan and US has faced numerous challenges.

"For one thing, the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last year has lessened the strategic importance of the neighboring country's government to the US," he noted," for another, Pakistan's position in Russia-Ukraine conflict, demonstrated by its having placed no sanctions on Russia, and casting the votes of abstention on the United Nations' resolutions against Russia has also upset the White House."

Also in an address on March 31, Imran Khan blamed the US for not giving Pakistan its due credit as its ally in fighting terrorism. "No ally of the US suffered in the war against terror as Pakistan did. No NATO country suffered the loss of 80,000 people in the US war."

According to him, people of Pakistan suffered the most from the country's experience as an ally in the US-led war against terror after the 9/11 attacks. However, in spite of all the sacrifice, the US never showed appreciation or gratitude to them. Instead, the nation suffered drone attacks in which even kids from a seminary were killed.

Khan also claimed "a foreign country" is trying to intervene in Pakistan's internal political matters by sending threatening words to the government. He added that Pakistan as a sovereign country has all the rights to make independent foreign policy without any influence from any foreign country.

Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, said no country has the right to interfere directly or indirectly in the internal matters of another country, "more so attempts to change governments."

Gul noted Khan tried to maintain an independent foreign policy, adding some opposition groups have called on the Army and Pakistan's main intelligence agency to investigate Khan's allegations of a foreign country trying to topple his government.

Yet the analysts said lack of political instability in Pakistan can negatively influence the nation's economy, as it will distract the government from its focus on recovering the pandemic-hit economy and improving the livelihood.

Xinhua contributed to the story.