Newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will take the oath of office today. Sources say that President Arif Alvi will take the oath of the newly elected Prime Minister from him.
The swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will take place today at 3 o’clock in the President’s House, for which preparations have been completed.
Invitations have been issued for the swearing-in of the newly elected Prime Minister.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party allied with former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and other smaller groups to form a government with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. The number of candidates supported by Khan should be more.
In his first speech since the vote, the 72-year-old spoke about the struggling $350 billion economy. And said reforms would be needed to get the country out of financial trouble.
He questioned whether Pakistan, which has a nuclear capability, can maintain its existence with the burden of debts. “It will persist if we collectively decide to do deep surgery and change the system. We have to reform.”
Sharif first served as prime minister from April 2022 to August 2023. Leading the same coalition that ousted Khan in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022.
The Prime Minister-elect of Pakistan is facing a triple crisis of political, economic, and security like his previous regime.
Pakistan narrowly avoided default during its first term, thanks to a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
However, the new government must urgently negotiate another IMF program because the current one expires in March.
The country’s security situation has also worsened in recent months, with Pakistan blaming an increase in attacks on the Pakistani Taliban in its western regions bordering Afghanistan.
Although the Khan-led opposition has indicated it will “cooperate” with the new government on public issues. It has vowed to continue protesting the alleged manipulation of the February 8 election results.
Political analysts have urged all the parliamentary parties, including the opposition Etihad Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and the Sunni Etihad Council parties, to come together in the parliament and devise a strategy to overcome the challenges facing the public interest.
“The government should set up a parliamentary committee to investigate allegations of rigging to satisfy the opposition,” Sohail Waraich, a political analyst and television host, told Arab News on Sunday.
Pakistan is facing several challenges including political and economic instability, so political forces should join hands to deal with these crises instead of quarreling and shouting in parliament.