Imran Khan lost the no-confidence vote on Sunday. (file)
Islamabad:
Imran Khan was removed from the post of Pakistan’s prime minister on Sunday after he lost a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.
The week-long ploy was dramatized by the opposition aimed at exposing Khan, the weak coalition built around his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to become premier in 2018.
Following are brief profiles of key players in the saga:
Shahbaz Sharif
The brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif – who has been disqualified for the post again and is currently in exile in Britain – is the main candidate to replace Shahbaz Khan.
The 70-year-old is a political stalwart in his own right, however, having served as the chief minister of Punjab, the family’s power base and now president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).
A stern administrator with a reputation for passionate outbursts, he is known to quote revolutionary poetry in speeches and is considered a workaholic.
She remains popular despite headlines about multiple marriages and a property portfolio that includes luxury apartments in London and Dubai.
Asif Ali Zardari
Hailing from a wealthy Sindh family, Zardari was better known for his playboy lifestyle, until an arranged marriage saw him become prime minister for the first time with Benazir Bhutto.
He entered politics with enthusiasm, earning the nickname “Mr. Ten Percent” for reportedly deductions from government contracts, and was twice jailed on charges related to corruption, drug trafficking, and murder – though never Didn’t even face trial.
The 67-year-old became the co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) after Bhutto’s assassination in 2007 and became the country’s president a year later in a power-sharing deal with the PML-N.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari’s sons are political royals and became the president of the PPP at the age of 19 after the murder of his mother.
The Oxford-educated 33-year-old is considered a progressive in her mother’s image, and has often spoken out on the rights of women and minorities.
With more than half of Pakistan’s population aged 22 or under, Bhutto’s social media is a hit with savvy youth, though he is often ridiculed for his poor command of Urdu, the national language.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Starting a political career as a flamboyant Islamist fundamentalist, the Muslim cleric has over the years softened his public image with a resiliency that has seen him align with secular parties on the left and right of the spectrum.
With the ability to mobilize thousands of madrasa students, his Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam (F) party never has enough support to vie for power on its own, but is usually a major player in any government. .
His enmity with Khan runs deep, calling him “a Jew” in reference to his former marriage to Briton Jemima Goldsmith.
Khan, in turn, refers to him as “Mulla Diesel” for his alleged involvement in fuel license-related corruption.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)