Imran khan step down as Pakistan PM as dispute between govt and army intensifies

Pakistan Government and Pakistani army fuelled by the appointment of a new chief for the country’s spy agency ISI, sources say the military is plotting to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan from his post.

Lt General Nadeem Anjum is scheduled to take over as DG (ISI) on November 20. However, tensions between the Imran Khan and army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa are at its peak, as the former is still in favour of retaining incumbent ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed.

Two options have been presented before Imran Khan: that he either resigns on his own before November 20, or the Opposition brings an in-house change in the Parliament CNN-News18 Reported.

In both cases, Imran Khan is going, the sources said, adding that in the coming week, ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will lose its political allies Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q).

Parvez Khattak from PTI and Shahbaz Sharif from the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) are probable names for the Prime Ministerial post, the sources said. Imran Khan’s political space has been in danger also due to the poor state of the country’s economy and stretched-out protests by the TLP group, whose demands the Prime Minister was forced to accept, in order to end the violent demonstrations across key stations.

As part of an agreement, the Pakistani government had last week released hundreds of supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to end the violent clashes that have resulted in the death of several police personnel. The group has been protesting against the Pakistan government for months, demanding the release of its party chief Saad Rizvi who was arrested in April this year.

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