Hours before Imran Khan’s ouster in a no-trust vote, till 8pm, the establishment was okay with delayed voting on the no-confidence motion, said sources. They were, in fact, even willing to accept his “threat letter” and “foreign conspiracy” theory, sources said.
Then what went wrong for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief who has been fighting to stay in power for weeks now? The fatal mistake of moving a file to remove Army chief General Qamar Bajwa.
And how did Khan still evade arrest?
Sources give News18 an exclusive and detailed account of what transpired in the hours before Khan lost the no-trust vote:
Around 8 pm: Khan decides to remove Bajwa and asks the defence ministry to issue two notifications – one to remove Bajwa and second to appoint Lt General Faiz Hameed as the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
From the defence ministry, the notifications are to reach the law ministry, where an Imran aide is already in attendance. From there, it is to reach the PM and then the President.
However, Bajwa stops the notifications from reaching the law ministry.
Around 9 pm: Bajwa and Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Nadeem Anjum reach PM’s house in Islamabad.
Ground zero – The PM’s house: Islamabad is put on high alert and the police are alerted. At least 36 army vans are moved towards the PM’s house. The high court and Election Commission (EC) are opened at the same time. The EC is opened to get the foreign funding case decision immediately. Bajwa tells Khan that they are opening the foreign funding case and the whole cabinet will be arrested. Khan is asked to conduct voting immediately, but Speaker Asad Qaisar refuses to arrange for the voting. He is asked to resign. The Supreme Court is ready to be opened at 12am if voting is not conducted.
Faiz over Bajwa: As a political strategy, Khan wanted Faiz Hameed to replace Bajwa as the Army chief, so that he could manage Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Akhtar Mangal Group. Once that was achieved, it could have been easy for Khan to clear the no-trust vote, or even if he had failed, the margin would have been small.
The tension builds up: A prisoners’ van is stationed at PM’s house, as the EC order on the foreign funding case is expected at the same time. After this order, the case is to be shifted to the Islamabad High Court, seeking Khan’s arrest in a treason case.
Khan do it: The arrest of Khan and the Speaker is on the cards, but the PTI chief manages to thwart it by apologising, said sources.
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