New Delhi: Pakistan's English dailies did not mince words when it came to Prime Minister Imran Khan's departure after losing a vote of confidence in parliament.

Most editorials sought to highlight the uncertainty of the 13-hour session that included repeated delays but ultimately culminated in speaker of parliament's lower house, Ayaz Sadiq, announcing that Khan had lost the trust vote.

'Back to the pavilion'

Dawn's editorial, in particular, made a last fitting use of a cricket metaphor to express lingering fear over Khan's ability to turn tides in his favour.

"Even with his ouster a near certainty, Mr Imran Khan seemed more than willing to turn a simple parliamentary procedure into a farce by forcing the heads of the judiciary and military, along with the entire legislature, to play along to the ‘last ball’ of his tiresome ruse."

The editorial also focused on how Imran Khan's party, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, spent little time over "introspecting" and instead charged against the opposition.

The editorial did, also, mention Imran Khan's achievements, noting that it will be "unwise to write him off" even though his time in government in up. Among successes, Dawn mentions the "successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, he multifaceted Ehsaas programme and a new public health insurance scheme."

Ultimately, the editorial places faith in Imran Khan's political future, noting, "One hopes...that his next avatar will have evolved from the vitriolic demagogue he has become."

'Imran voted out'

Karachi daily The News International led a sombre editorial, observing at the outset, "It could have all gone so differently."

"The prime minister could have attended the National Assembly session right on Saturday morning when it was convened; the speaker could have followed the Supreme Court’s directives and held the count for the vote of no-confidence; and the ruling party and its PM could have managed some semblance of dignity on their way out," it said.

But, the editorial said, Imran Khan and his PTI harped on the foreign conspiracy angle and delayed proceedings as much as possible.

The editorial also shed light on the drama of the trust vote – "an unbelievable circus that continuously moved between the farcical and the tragic."

Announcing that other than the Pakistan Supreme Court's "historic verdict on April 7, there is really no win in what happened the past few days," the editorial slams the PTI for going down a "dangerous route" in its attempts to cling to power.

Also read: Pakistani Newspapers Welcome SC's Decision on Trust Vote

Like Dawn, The News also calls for introspection within PTI.

"Going by what Imran Khan had said over the past few days, if the PTI does take its protests to the streets and continues to insist it has been ousted through a conspiracy, one hopes there is at least some introspection within their ranks on where they went wrong during their time in government," it says.

Finally, it establishes a simple wish: "May the curse of ‘interesting times’ finally be over for Pakistan."

'Defiance in distaste'

The Express Tribune's editorial also concerned itself with the length of time during which it seemed as if the trust vote would be bulldozed by the treasury benches.

"Notwithstanding the fact that the PM and the Speaker had agreed to implement the court orders for the day, their dubious intentions were quite evident day long," the piece admitted, after noting that there was sufficient decorum maintained nonetheless on both sides.

Panning PTI for delaying tactics that it called "unbecoming", the editorial noted that they were "tantamount to not only contempt of court but also politically in a bad taste at the cost of brewing anarchy."

'The curtain falls, finally'

Daily Times likened PTI's efforts to derail the collapse of its government to throwing "everything but the kitchen sink". Like other editorials, this one too, highlighted the tactics employed by the party, decrying them heavily.

It examined PTI's new role now as an opposition party, noting it is likely to assume a very aggressive posture.

But the editorial stopped short of professing faith in the new beginning.

"Pakistan might wake up to a new political reality this fateful day, but it’s a far thing from the new dawn that’s promised every time such winds of change blow through the land," it said.

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