Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif was on Monday sworn in as the 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan, Dawn reported. The swearing-in took place amid protests in different parts of the country by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which has alleged rigging in the general elections held last month.
Shehbaz was administered oath by President Arif Alvi at the Aiwan-i-Sadr. The ceremony was attended by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir and the chief ministers of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, according to Dawn.
Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the Prime Minister after he secured 201 votes in the National Assembly on Sunday defeating his rival Omar Ayub Khan who was backed by PTI. The government formation in Pakistan has taken place after protracted talks involving PML(N), PPP and smaller parties.
PTI leader Meher Bano Qureshi said they will consider moving a no-confidence motion against Shehbaz Sharif, Dawn reported. Speaking to Dawn News programme ‘Doosra Rukh’, she said, “If our mandate is restored, and we get justice from the ECP and the courts, then we will tell the Prime Minister to take a vote of no confidence.”
“And if he’s unsuccessful, then we’ll demand that the party with the most representation in the National Assembly gets the right to form a government,” she added.
She said that the PM’s election took place in an “incomplete parliament.” PTI MNA Gohar Ali Khan said Shehbaz Sharif’s election as the PM was a “sad day for democracy”. Speaking in the National Assembly, Gohar said, “None of us imagined that such a person will be elected, the button of Pakistan’s atomic power will be handed over to someone who does not have a public mandate and has been in power for four decades, which are a living documentation of their personal gains.”
On Sunday, Omar Ayub Khan, the PTI-backed Independent candidate and a rival for the top post, called the ruling coalition as a “fascist regime focused solely on looting Pakistan’s resources without any ideology”. Addressing the Assembly, the PTI leader raised his grievances over “unfair electoral practices”.
Omar Ayub Khan, a member of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), is poised to become the Leader of the Opposition in the 16th National Assembly, as per sources cited by ARY News. If elected, this would mark Omar Ayub Khan’s third term in the position.
