The presidency, a largely ceremonial office, acceded hours later.

Pakistan’s deputy attorney-general Raja Khalid Mahmood resigned in protest shortly after Khan’s announcement, accusing the PTI government of grossly violating the country’s constitution and laws.

Pakistan PM Khan’s coalition partner jumps ship ahead of no-confidence vote

The deputy speaker’s ruling would keep Khan in office until Pakistan President Arif Alvi, another PTI loyalist, formed a caretaker administration to oversee elections.

Khan was expected to install a sympathetic caretaker government to stage elections under controversial voting laws, which the opposition have alleged are designed to facilitate electoral-rigging.

Ahead of the vote, Khan had alleged he was the target of an “international conspiracy” to unseat him led by the United States, which has denied the allegations. Khan also accused the opposition of conspiring with “foreign powers” to remove him because he would not take the West’s side on global issues against Russia and China.

Khan angered the West by continuing with a visit to Moscow on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, and was also one of the few world leaders to attend the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics when others boycotted in protest at China’s human rights record.

When ambassadors of the European Union, Britain, Japan and Australia issued a public letter to protest Khan’s meeting with Vladimir Putin, he retorted that Islamabad was not a “slave” to Western governments.

Ukraine: Pakistan’s Khan suggests China, Islamic states mediate conflict

Sunday’s events risk leading to a constitutional crisis in Pakistan, which has been ruled by the military for half of its 75-year history.

Powerful generals from the army have previously mentored top politicians, who later rebelled after attaining high office. Prominent among them is three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the political nemesis of both Khan and the military.

During intermittent spells of weak democratic governance, Pakistan’s military retained a firm grip on foreign policy.

Khan has bemoaned the military-led establishment’s past dealings with the West, saying they had deprived Pakistan of the ability to pursue independent foreign policy objectives.

Pakistan’s army said on Sunday it was not involved in politics. “Army has nothing to do with the political process,” said Major General Babar Iftikhar, the head of the military’s public relations wing.

‘Multiple challenges’

Whoever becomes Pakistan’s next prime minister following Sunday’s dissolution of the national assembly faces a raft of challenges, analysts said.

The incoming government will need to stave off “multiple challenges on domestic and foreign relations levels”, said Professor Jaffar Ahmed, director of the Institute of Historical and Social Research.

Crippling debt, galloping inflation and a feeble currency have combined to keep growth stagnant for the past three years with little prospect of genuine improvement.

“We don’t have any direction,” said Nadeem ul Haque, vice-chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), a research organisation in Islamabad. “Radical policy reforms are needed to turn around the economy,” he said.

China’s belt and road is Pakistan’s path from poverty, says Imran Khan

Inflation is ticking along at over 12 per cent, foreign debt is at US$130 billion – or 43 per cent of GDP – and the rupee has dipped to 185 to the dollar, a decline of nearly a third since Khan took power.

A US$6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package signed by Khan in 2019 has never been fully implemented because the government reneged on agreements to cut or end subsidies on certain goods and improve revenue and tax collection. “The IMF package must go on,” said Ehsan Malik, head of the Pakistan Business Council.

Pakistan’s Taliban, a separate movement that shares common roots with the militants who took power in Afghanistan last year, have also stepped up attacks in recent months.

“The insurgency challenge would remain as big and crucial for the new government,” said political analyst Rafiullah Kakar.

Pakistan’s political instability has sparked concern from close ally China, which has poured more than US$25 billion of investments in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in the past few years.

Spokespersons from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing had in the past two weeks urged Pakistan’s warring politicians to settle their differences and “prioritise development”.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s supreme court is set to hear arguments related to the president’s shock dissolution of parliament on Monday, a statement from the body said on Sunday.

“This is an urgent matter. The case is fixed for tomorrow. Notices are issued to all political parties and state functionaries,” said Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

Lawmakers had vowed to fight the ruling to cancel the no-confidence motion on Sunday.

Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif told reporters the deputy speaker and Khan would be charged with treason for violating the constitution.

“We aren’t leaving the parliament,” said Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former prime minister and lawmaker of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party. “This is now a test of the Supreme Court to protect the constitution and the country.”

Reporting by Bloomberg, AFP, Reuters