Islamabad: Pakistan’s parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister following the removal of Imran Khan in a vote of no confidence. Ahead of the vote on Monday, MPs from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party resigned en masse, boycotting the election of Sharif, the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has been elected as prime minister,” said Acting Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. In his first address as prime minister in the National Assembly, Sharif discussed the foreign-policy failures of the outgoing government and said he will expedite the multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and rebuild broken ties with partners and allies.
“We want good relations with India but there cannot be sustainable peace unless the issue of Kashmir is resolved,” he said. Sharif invited his Indian counterpart to help solve the Kashmir dispute in line with United Nations resolutions.
Sharif ordered an in-camera briefing of the parliamentary committee on national security. Senior civil and military officials, including Pakistan’s foreign ambassador in Washington, will also attend the meeting. “I will step down and if there is an iota of evidence [against me],” he said.
Earlier, Sharif secured 174 votes and will now form a new government that can remain in place until August 2023, when general elections are due. No prime minister has ever completed a five-year term in office during the country’s nearly 75-year history. Sharif, who was sworn in later on Monday, comes from a family of industrialists which has become a political dynasty.
Earlier, Imran Khan has been deposed by a no-confidence vote in parliament, days after he blocked a similar attempt. The passing of the motion on Saturday came after the country’s Supreme Court ruled the cricket star turned politician acted unconstitutionally in previously blocking the process and dissolving parliament. The no-confidence motion, which required 172 votes in the 342-seat parliament to pass, was supported by 174 politicians.
Anticipating his loss, Khan, who alleged the opposition colluded with the United States to unseat him, called on his supporters to stage rallies nationwide on Sunday. Khan earlier tried to sidestep the vote by dissolving parliament and calling early elections, but a Supreme Court ruling ordered the vote to go ahead.
