Pakistan Parliament To Dissolve Today; Will Election Be Held Without Ex-PM Imran Khan?

New Delhi:  Pakistan’s parliament is due to be dissolved today, Wednesday. It will usher in a technocrat-led interim government to oversee an election that will not include Imran Khan, news agency AFP reported.

There has been political turmoil in the country since the former international cricket star was booted from power in April last year, culminating in his being jailed for graft at the weekend following a months-long crackdown on his party.

By law, elections should be held within 90 days of parliament’s dissolution, but the outgoing government has already warned they are likely to be delayed.

Khan enjoyed genuine widespread support when he came to power in 2018, but analysts say it was only with the blessing of the country’s powerful generals — who he reportedly fell out within the months before his ousting.  He later waged a risky campaign of defiance against the military, accusing them of meddling in politics and even naming an intelligence officer as being behind an assassination attempt that saw him shot in the leg in November.  He heaped pressure on the government to hold early elections by holding mass rallies and pulling his MPs from parliament, but ultimately his gambit failed.