one day longer, one day stronger. ♪ >> a reminder of our top news stories. president biden has ordered the release of one million barrels of oil per day to combat rising energy prices. this will be put into domestic and international markets for up to six months. vladimir putin has issued an ultimatum to so-called unfriendly states, demanding they pay for oil in rubles.

>> i signed an order that establishes the rule of trade with so-called hostile state. they have to pay in rubles and payments have to be made to the first of april. if they don't, we will consider this an unfulfilled contract. we do not do charity. >> air raid sirens and blasts have been heard in kyiv in the last two hours, said to be in sensitive areas in the capital. and ukraine's president said they must prepare for a renewed attack. >> we continue pushing away occupiers in the trinity and sunni region. they realize they cannot sustain the intensity of combat they had in the first half of march.

russian forces are amassing resources for powerful strikes. we will defend. we will do everything possible to stop our occupiers and clear the area of the evil and senseless crimes. >> and that is it for us here on al jazeera. inside story is next. stay with us. ♪ >> for generations, this indigenous community has lived off of what the rainforest provides. when it was discovered their territory was being invaded by gold mining, they launched an

effort against ecuador's governments. the tiny community won a huge battle but will not necessarily have the last word since the court remn makes room for exceptions in the name of overriding national intest. muhammad: can pakistan's prime minister survive the biggest test of his career? imran khan faces a no-confidence vote after some of his allies switched sides. so what's behind the former cricket star's fall from grace? this is "inside story." ♪ hello and welcome to the program. no prime minister in pakistan has ever completed a full five-year term.

it appears imran khan could suffer the same fate. the national assembly has begun debating a motion of no confidence, with a vote expected by monday. khan's opponents accuse him of corruption and mismanaging the economy. their attempt to oust him received a boost when the main partner in his coalition government quit and joined the opposition. it's believed khan has lost the support of pakistan's powerful military. he says there's a foreign conspiracy to remove him, adding he has a letter of proof. his critics are confident they have the numbers in parliament to vote him out. >> the numbers are open and declared. we have way more than we need now for him to lose that vote of no confidence, and now really he should just resign and that's the graceful exit. but if he doesn't, he's going to lose that vote. the clock is ticking and after that, pakistan will have to come together to stabilize. the longer he stays in, the longer he as government

challenges the stability and peace on the streets of the capital or the country. i think pakistan faces a growing danger of instability. muhammad: osama bin javed has more from islamabad. reporter: in the last three and a half years, this is the biggest challenge that imran khan's government is facing. it is going to have to present members of parliament to make sure that it says that this vote of no confidence cannot go through, because it still has the numbers. according to the opposition, they have far more than 172 mps, not just because of disgruntled mps who are switching sides from imran khan's party towards them, but also because of coalition partners that imran khan enjoyed the support of. people who we've been speaking to tell us that imran khan has not been able to fulfill campaign promises, including stamping out corruption from the ranks of his own government, making sure that the price of basic commodities, inflation, etc., and the state of economy

is improved, and also try and stabilize the pakistani rupee against the u.s. dollar. and all of these things, combined with the coalition's support and the very important question of the pakistani military support. the military establishment, according to the opposition, is now going to play a neutral role. it is no longer going to support imran khan, and that is why people are easy. they're feeling it easier to change sides. this is going to be a crucial few days in pakistan's political history as this vote of no confidence debate has already begun. both of these sides say they have the numbers, and the prime minister is now waiting for that vote. and during this time, new promises are being made. old promises are being broken. new alliances are being formed, and pakistan holds its breath to figure out whether a prime minister in pakistan will be able to complete his five-year term.

for "inside story," this is osama bin japi. muhammad: we'll begin our discussion in a moment. first let's remind you of how we got to this point. a popular cricketer and philanthropist, he won his first world cup against india in 1992. two years later, he would create the first and only cancer hospital in pakistan at the time. in 1996, khan established the pakistan tajarika and soft political party, also known as the pti. six years later, he was elected as a member of parliament. in 2018, khan claimed victory in the general elections, but faced allegations of vote rigging. the pti emerged as the largest party in the national assembly. a month later, the pti nominated him to be prime minister after -- minister. after defeating his opponent, imran khan became the democratically elected prime minister of pakistan. all right. let's go ahead and bring in our guests. faisal vauda joins us from islamabad. he's a former federal minister

for water resources and a member of prime minister imran khan's communications team. from london, we're joined by farzana sheikh. she's a specialist in pakistan's politics and foreign policy and an associate fellow in the asia pacific program at chatham house international affairs think tank. and also in london, we have shiraz paracha, a professor of urlism and a specialist in the affairs of pakistan, afghanistan, and central asia. a warm welcome to you all, and thanks so much for joining us today on "inside story." farzana let me start with you today. what exactly is behind this no confidence vote? >> i think it depends on who you listen to. the prime minister of course has claimed that it is the result of an orchestrated international conspiracy against his

government. opposition parties who are bringing this vote of no confidence against prime minister imran khan have insisted that in fact it is the result of his government's gross incompetence and mismanagement. so as i said, there are two radically different interpretations of what's behind this vote of no-confidence. muhammad: you heard farzana there talk about the fact that prime minister khan has said that there's a foreign conspiracy afoot to remove him . prime minister khan also had added that he has a letter to show as proof of that conspiracy , but he has not produced that. why not, and will he? >> thank you for inviting me. let me explain khan first for a few seconds. he is a visionary, ambitious, a go-getter and a doer. an achiever and has self-respect

for his country. he has always stood for pakistan. so the biggest issue is that he is not allowing others to play on our ground for their own incentives and for their own achievements, number one. number two, he's somebody who did explain islam and sorted the issue that we are not extremists . it is nothing to do with religion. number three, give me one country in the world who sacrificed 80,000 lives. forget about collateral damage. 80,000 people were killed because of what? why? we will not allow that. for us, they need to kill us to stop us. we are unstoppable. these crooks, the united opposition what they have done to pakistan in the last five

years, apart from looting the country, the generals have been blackmailing the judiciary and making apes of the judges. this time, things are different. we did not compromise the self and dignity of pakistan. and we will not. they have been ripping apart my country for the last 40 years. and look at the optics. the same people who've been abusing, technically their representation is of the people [indiscernible] muhammad: i am sorry to

interrupt but i want to ask again. at such a perilous time for the prime minister, he is saying he has proof and at one point indicated that he would share that proof. why has he not, and do you think he will? >> i mean, there are technical issues with that. a secrecy act we need to follow. so we are finding a way out technically three lawyers on how to go about it. we want to share everything with the country. they should know that he did not sell, even right now we have an offer by players. they want us to bend down and sellout and our answer to them

is get lost. we are not going to compromise our country. they are giving us pain but i guarantee they will be suffering towards them to protect pakistan and the people of pakistan. people understand the game. and it's not just a change of regime, his life is in danger. so it is tense in the country and international players are achieving what they want to achieve but what they don't realize is [indiscernible] muhammad: i will get back to

you. i do want to ask shiraz, from your vantage point, do you believe that imran khan can actually survive this? >> if we look at the numbers and it's technically he has lost the majority in the house. it's just a matter of time and a formality, but what astonishes me is imran khan hanging on to power for so long and this this process is taking that much time . i should remind you and your audience that in pakistan in the past there were prime ministers who had two third majority in the parliament and they were quite powerful and they had a full parliamentary backing, but yet they were disposed quite easily through courts and through presidential powers and through other means. on the other hand, ibraham has a

slim majority and that also from other parties his allies who were brought to him by the military establishment and this hybrid regime was created. concerning his integrity and honesty, there are now very serious questions about his integrity and honesty. he has turned his back and taken so many u-turns on his promises. he has broken promises and commitments and this rhetoric is nonsense. it's very bizarre when they are now creating a storm in a cup of tea by saying that there is some international conspiracy. we know that imran khan is one of those politicians in pakistan who has deep relations with western elites and western governments, particularly with

the british establishment. imran khan was a politician one of his close friends abba s babar who now opposes him he he said that imran khan once told him that he wanted to use his former wife to have connections in the white house. imran khan did not support a poor pakistani, son of a poor pakistani bus driver in the election for mayors of london . and he went especially to england from pakistan to support his former brother-in-law goldsmith, brother of jemima goldsmith. so he is very close to conservative party, a right-wing party which still has imperialistic thinking and you know a party of lords.

imran khan supports conservative party, imran khan has connections in the west and imran khan has handed over pakistan to ims. muhammad: i'm sorry -- i -- >> when he came back after beating trump he said he was so happy as if he had won the world cup. muhammad: ferzana, let me ask you, assuming this happens, let's say that the no confidence vote happens and that imran khan does not survive it, what is the immediate aftermath and when it comes to the opposition does the opposition have any plan going forward beyond this plan that's united them as far as just removing the prime minister from office? >> that is the real worry. at present we know he doesn't have the numbers to win a no-confidence vote or to remain

in power. so the chances are that you know he will be made to resign on the -- resign. on the other hand, he might survive. the unexpected has been known to happen in pakistan. but i think either way it's fair to assume whether he stays or whether he goes, pakistan is in for a very very turbulent period ahead, and you know the opposition of course must also take some of that responsibility because it is an opposition made up of strange bedfellows who in the past have exchanged very very vicious recriminations against each other. so there are many in pakistan who worry about the opposition and its apparent one-point

agenda to oust the prime minister. but that it may well be without a a coherent program to see pakistan through to the next elections which are scheduled for 2023. muhammad: faisal, what is the prime minister's relationship like right now with the military? because there are many out there who believe that the support from the military has been key to his political success, there's also a lot of speculation out there right now that that relationship has been fractured. what is the relationship like right now between prime minister and the military? we love and respect the army in the sacrifice they give the country.

but now something is working for the opposition and international players that suddenly the same army is neutral. so they are the people who have been abusing, generals, they are the people who have been blaming the army and institute and blackmailing the judiciary and blackmailing the judges and getting orders on the phone. so they are giving pain to my country. do you think that it's going to be easy for them to let go us without [indiscernible] what is the issue right now? they want yes from him. they wants to bend -- they want

us to bend down. kill us to stop us. we are unstoppable. we are going to protect pakistan and the interest and the people of pakistan these crooks together are going to run the country and -- muhammad: i'm sorry to interrupt you, but -- >> that is why the popularity is high as the sky -- muhammad: i'm sorry to interrupt. we are running out of time. shir, let me ask you from your vantage point where does the military in pakistan stand with regard to the current political crisis? >> i think the military must be feeling very embarrassed because he was there darling and there

was a perception the military was behind his rise to power and he was groomed by security agencies. his famous punchline has been that the military and his regime are on the same page. so he was the public face of the regime, which was patronized and supported by the military. and now because of his poor performance and couldn't -- and because he could not fulfill his promises, he couldn't do anything and people became frustrated. the anger against him ran deep.

the longer he stays in power, the anger is directed toward the military on the perception is the military brought pakistan to this situation. pakistan has the highest foreign debt and no previous government has taken on so much debt. so the military must be feeling embarrassed but there are signs that there is still some sympathy and that is why he has been hanging on for so long. otherwise he has lost the majority and when the assembly

votes he could lose. but odds can happen, as the other guest said rightly. muhammad: i want to look at how allies are reacting. china is an economic and geopolitical ally. where does china stand in this? with as much invested in pakistan as they have, how concerned are they? >> inevitably, political instability and political turbulence in a country as strategically important as pakistan is bound to worry the international community. china, in addition of course as a major invest investor in the china-pakistan economic

corridor, must have additional worries of its own. i think one of the points that needs to be made is that in recent months, there have been reports that many projects under cpec have tended to slow down . and we know some of the issues relating to this apparent slowdown surfaced during prime minister imran khan's visit in february to china when he when dashed china when he met president xi. there have been suggestions that the government of prime minister imran khan simply has not been able to deliver its part and its

side of the bargain on cpec, which has led of course some analysts to believe that in fact china was probably happier working with a government led by former prime minister nawaz sharif which was known to be more competent and had economic management -- muhammad: sorry to interrupt you. we only have one minute left. do you think there is a chance this political turmoil could translate to violence or more instability? >> there is always a risk of violence in pakistan. at the moment i think we just have to wait and see how the situation pans out but there is no doubt that politically the atmosphere is extremely tense. we really need a speedy resolution in pakistan if the

situation is not going to deteriorate. muhammad: we have run out of time and we have to leave the conversation there. thank you to all of our guests and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website aljazeera.com and for further discussion go to our facebook page. you can always also join us on twitter. from all of us here in doha, bye for now. ♪ o7ñ;ñ;?k■■■x■x #úç

♪