SHAHBAZ SHARIF ELECTED PAK PM
AS India watching the developments across its western border, Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Opposition Leader (LOP), was on Monday elected Prime Minister by the Pakistan National Assembly following the voting out of the incumbent Imran Khan Niazi through a No-trust Motion. All PTI MPs led by Imran Khan earlier boycotted the election and walked out of the National Assembly saying they will never accept the IMPORTED Sarkar. Shahbaz Sharif is supported by a rainbow of opposition parties pledged to varied ideologies. The new PM heading the Pakistan Muslim (N) and Punjab’s former Chief Minister, is the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, who was a three-time elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. In 2018, the Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz from holding public office and he was also sentenced to ten years in prison by an accountability court. He is abroad for medical treatment and expected to return home from London after Eid. Soon after he was voted out, Imran Khan born at Lahore in an elite family of Pashtun origin 69 years ago, several hundred people demonstrated to protest against his ouster. ’Imran Khan leaves the Pakistani premier’s office with a mixed record. Ousted premier faced criticism for economic, governance woes, but is praised for bringing strategic autonomy and smart handling of COVID-19’’, writes Amir Latif. Shehbaz Sharif said Imran Khan’s departure was a chance for a new beginning in Pakistan. “A new dawn has started … This alliance will rebuild Pakistan,” Shehbaz told parliament on Sunday. His first tasks will be to repair relations with the powerful military as well as the United States, and tend to a faltering economy as the cost of living is becoming dearer due to unbridled inflation. ’I recall how Mian Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Shahid Khaqan, Khawaja Asif, Saad Rafique, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Hamza, Hanif Abbasi, Mian Nauman et al. were hounded, stigmatized & put behind bars. Can’t appreciate enough the sacrifices & political struggle of PMLN family!’’, said the centrist party chief ahead of becoming PM of the world’s largest Muslim nation. Edited by PK Chakravarty. Picture courtesy: zee news
