India Narrative

After tabling a no-confidence motion, the opposition, now short of single digit numbers, is closing in to topple Prime Minister Imran Khan. The arithmetic to oust the mercurial Khan is simple. The opposition needs to muster the magic number of 172 lawmakers to oust Khan. After the decision of Shahzain Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party to step out of the ruling coalition on Sunday, treasury members have been slashed to 178 in the 342-member lower house of the parliament. With that the opposition has 163 in the bag, only 9 shorts of the required numbers. Later on, Monday, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), an ally of the ruling Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party announced that it was joining the opposition in the no-confidence motion against the premier. Khalid Magsi's parliamentary leader of BAP made the dramatic announcement of ditching the ruling coalition in the National Assembly at a joint press conference accompanied by heavyweights in the Pakistani political spectrum. The bi

  Last week Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid a state visit to Pakistan - his first ever visit to the country after taking charge in Tashkent in 2016. He had, however, met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan twice earlier - during the Central Asia-South Asia connectivity conference that Tashkent hosted last year in July and thereafter in August at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September 2021. The two had earlier held a virtual meeting on April 14, 2021where they had supported the construction of the ‘Termez–Mazar-e-Sharif–Kabul–Peshawar’ railway line, calling it an "important initiative" to establish connectivity from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea through Afghanistan and the Pakistani seaports of Karachi, Gwadar and Bin Qasim. Mirziyoyev's visit marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan and is expected to provide a huge fillip to bilateral ties, a wide