Army backing vital for Imran Khan to survive today's confidence vote

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spent much of his election campaign in 2018 denying he was a military stooge. Yet after suffering a shocking loss in parliament this week, he turned to the nation’s powerful army chief.

 

Khan met army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa along with the head of the military’s spy agency on Thursday after his finance minister lost a tightly fought battle for a seat in the Senate, or the upper house. The conversation with the head of the institution that has conducted numerous coups, and retains tremendous sway over policy, is likely to send a strong message to lawmakers as Khan seeks a confidence vote in parliament Saturday.

 

For the army, which has ruled the nation for about half of its existence since independence in 1947, Khan represents stability as the economy recovers from the pandemic-induced contraction. “Bajwa is keen to maintain continuity and show that all is well,” said Burzine Waghmar of the Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS University of London. The army is also “keen to start on a good footing with the Joe Biden administration as well.”

 

Khan’s meeting with Bajwa rankled the opposition. “It gives a wrong message,” opposition leader Maryam Nawaz said at a briefing on Thursday.

 

There was no comment from the government’s spokesman or the army.

 

Khan needs the support of 172 of the lawmakers to win the confidence vote. Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party and allies have 178 seats in the 342-member National Assembly or lower house of parliament. However, the party-backed Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh got 164 votes in the election on Wednesday. The members of the National Assembly vote in the Senate and the defeat prompted Khan to seek a vote of confidence.

 

To ensure Khan has support of at least his lawmakers, Pakistan’s spy agency has been asked to monitor their movement and secure their presence in parliament on Saturday, officials said.

 

“No party can remain in power without institutional support from the army,” said Amit Ranjan, research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.