Pakistan, 2022 — auto-coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event on 3 to 4 April 2022 coded as an auto coup episode in Pakistan, when Prime Minister Imran Khan, facing near certain defeat in a no confidence vote, had his allies block the vote and abruptly dissolved the National Assembly in a maneuver the opposition and courts condemned as unconstitutional. Khan, the former cricket star turned populist prime minister, had lost his parliamentary majority as coalition partners defected, and the opposition had tabled a no confidence motion it appeared poised to win. On 3 April, as the vote was set to proceed, the deputy speaker, a Khan ally, abruptly dismissed the motion as part of an alleged foreign conspiracy, and Khan then advised the president to dissolve the National Assembly and call fresh elections, seeking to escape removal and reset the board.
The opposition denounced the move as a subversion of the constitution and rushed to the Supreme Court. In a landmark ruling on 7 April, the court declared the dismissal of the no confidence motion and the dissolution of parliament unconstitutional, restored the assembly, and ordered the vote to proceed. On 10 April, Khan lost the no confidence vote and was removed from office, becoming the first Pakistani prime minister ousted in that manner.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
77004042022
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Imran Khan's April 2022 bid to dodge a no-confidence vote by dissolving parliament was struck down and he was removed.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Wikipedia
BBC Monitoring
New York Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →