
File photo of Imran Khan. Aamir Qureshi—AFP
President Alvi announces that PTI chairman will remain prime minister under Article 224A (4) of the Constitution
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan will continue as the Prime Minister of Pakistan until the appointment of a caretaker prime minister, the President’s Secretariat announced in a statement issued early on Monday.
“Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi shall continue as prime minister till the appointment of [a] caretaker prime minister under Article 224A (4) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” read the statement.
The Cabinet Division de-notified Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan earlier on Sunday after President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on his advice following an immensely controversial decision of Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri to dismiss the resolution of no-confidence against Khan before it could proceed to voting. In his ruling, Suri claimed the no-confidence motion against the PTI chairman was “unconstitutional,” and backed the PTI’s as-yet-unproven allegations of it being backed by “foreign powers.”
In a posting on Twitter, Alvi confirmed that Khan would continue to serve as the prime minister until a caretaker setup had been established. However—in keeping with the constitutional crisis provoked by the PTI’s actions in the National Assembly on Sunday—it is unclear how a caretaker prime minister can be appointed if the National Assembly has already been dissolved, as any conflict between the outgoing prime minister and the leader of the opposition is resolved via committee formed by the outgoing speaker.
While Khan can continue to serve as prime minister until an interim setup is established, he is barred from making executive decisions granted to an elected head of the government.
Following the dismissal of the no-confidence vote by the deputy speaker, Khan—in a televised address—announced he was advocating early elections and asked Pakistanis to prepare for polling. The opposition has moved the Supreme Court to clarify the constitutional impasse, with Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial ruling that “any order passed by the Prime Minister and the President shall be subject to the order of this court.”