Pakistan’s legislative assembly is going to complete its five-year constitutional term at midnight on 11th August, but Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has announced government dissolution on August 9th. This would be the forth assembly in the history of Pakistan but this also an interesting fact that no prime minister had ever completed his term in office.
In the current assembly, the former Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed through a motion of no-confidence and Shahbaz Sharif became PM by securing vote of confidence in the parliament from the 13 parties alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)
An official farewell meeting of the federal cabinet as well as the last sitting of the National Assembly were held yesterday(Wednesday) after which the Prime Minister sent a summary to the President for the assembly’s dissolution.
Reflecting on the past, the last martial law was imposed in 1999 when the elected government was overturned and General Pervez Musharraf assumed power. Subsequently, in 2002, general elections were held, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) came into power.
The elected assembly completed its five-year term, but the elected Prime Minister could not finish his term. After the election results, Mir Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali was made the Prime Minister, but he resigned in June 2004. After his resignation the President of ruling party Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain became the Prime Minister. In the meantime, the favourite candidate of President General Pervez Musharraf(late) Shaukat Aziz won the bye-elections and assumed the office of the Prime Minister.
After the completion of the elected assembly’s term, the next government was formed in 2008, led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The Supreme Court imposed contempt of court punishment on the elected Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. After being convicted, the PM was disqualified, and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf became the Prime Minister of the country.
In May 2013, the PML-N came to power, and in 2018, the assembly completed its constitutional term. However, in 2017, following his conviction in the Panama Papers case, elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was declared ineligible, after which Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was nominated for the position of Prime Minister.
In the general elections that were held in 2018, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf won the majority and its Chairman Imran Khan became the Prime Minister of Pakistan. But after passing almost four years in power, the opposition brought a successful no confidence motion again him. After that PDM made the government and nominated Shahbaz Sharif Prime Minister of the country.
Now Imran Khan was also disqualified on the orders of the apex court. He was the third Prime Minister in history after Nawaz Sharif and Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani who faced disqualification.