Brief profiles of key opposition leaders as Khan becomes the first Pakistani PM to be ousted by a no-confidence vote.
Imran Khan is the first Pakistani prime minister to be impeached after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament.
The drama caps weeks of opposition machinations aimed at dissolving the tenuous coalition Khan built around his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to become prime minister in 2018.
The following are brief profiles of the main protagonists of the saga:
Shehbaz Sharif
Shehbaz Sharif speaks to reporters outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad [File: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters]
The brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – who has been barred from running for office again and is currently living in exile in Britain – Shehbaz is the main candidate to succeed Khan.
However, the 70-year-old is a political heavyweight himself, having served as chief minister of Punjab, the family’s power base, and now as president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The badass administrator known for his outbursts of passion is known for quoting revolutionary poetry in speeches and is known to be a workaholic.
Despite lurid tabloid headlines about polygamy and a property portfolio that includes luxury apartments in London and Dubai, he remains popular.
Asif Ali Zardari
Zardari became President of Pakistan in 2008 in a power-sharing deal with PML-N [File: Aamir Qureshi/AFP]
Coming from a wealthy Sindh family, Zardari was better known for his playboy lifestyle until he married Benazir Bhutto in an arranged marriage just before she became Prime Minister for the first time.
He entered politics with enthusiasm and earned the nickname “Mr Ten Percent” for the cut he allegedly took from government contracts and was jailed twice for corruption, drug smuggling and murder – although he was never tried.
The 67-year-old became co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after Bhutto’s assassination in 2007 and became the country’s president a year later under a power-sharing deal with the PML-N.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 33, is the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). [File: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters]
The son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari is a political royalty and became leader of the PPP after the assassination of his mother when he was just 19.
Following the example of his mother, the 33-year-old, who was trained at Oxford, is regarded as progressive and has often spoken out for the rights of women and minorities.
With more than half of Pakistan’s population aged 22 or younger, Bhutto’s social media savvy is a hit with youth, though he is frequently ridiculed for his poor command of the local language, Urdu.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party can never muster enough support for power, but it is usually a key figure in any government [File: Mian Khursheed/Reuters]
Having started political life as a hot-headed hardliner, the Muslim leader has softened his public image over the years with a flexibility that has led him to forge alliances with secular parties on both the left and right of the spectrum.
Capable of mobilizing tens of thousands of Islamic students, his Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party can never muster enough support for power, but is usually a key figure in any government.
His hostility to Khan runs deep, calling him “a Jew” in reference to his previous marriage to Briton Jemima Goldsmith.
Khan in return calls him “Mullah Diesel” for his alleged involvement in a fuel license bribery.
