Shehbaz Sharif takes oath as prime minister of Pakistan

Islamabad:PML-N leader Shehbaz Sharif took the oath of office as the 24^th prime minister of Pakistan on Monday, a day after being elected the premier for the second time.

The premier was administered the oath by President Arif Alvi at the President House.

PML-N leaders including Shehbaz’s brother, three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif, also attended the ceremony.

Following the oath-taking ceremony, the newly sworn-in premier was presented guard of honour at the Prime Minister House.

In a not-so-shocking spectacle on Sunday, Shehbaz Sharif took the reins as the 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan and wasted no time in diving into the nation’s ongoing challenges while setting his sights on the lofty goal of steering the country into the elite G20 club by 2030.

The new captain of the ship sailed smoothly to victory – returning to the throne after a brief hiatus since August 2023 – leaving his opponent Omar Ayub securing a mere 92 votes, precisely 24 days after the country’s ‘controversial general elections.’

The magic number to seize the prime ministerial office was 169 votes.

The PML-N president and the newly-stitched coalition’s candidate for prime minister, has returned to the role he held till August 2023, when the National Assembly completed a five-year term for the third consecutive time in over seven-decade-old political history of the country.

Amid rigging allegations and in the face of massive economic challenges, the newly-elected premier vowed to steer the country out of crisis and set the goal for his government to make Pakistan a member of G20 countries by 2030.

The G20, formed in 1999, is a group of 20 of many of the world’s largest economies that meets regularly to coordinate global policy on trade, health, climate, and other issues. It consists of 19 countries as well as the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU).

The countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In his maiden address, Shehbaz acknowledged the alarming debt crisis and promised to make Pakistan “self-sufficient.” He spoke of necessary surgery on the system, embracing basic reforms to cut the chains of debt enslavement.

“We will rise, and we will make Pakistan self-sufficient,” he proclaimed.

Referring to the economy, Shehbaz said that the incoming government would bring investment into the country and create economic conditions to spur growth, emphasising that “one window” export zones will be established in all provinces. Hitting at his opponents, Shehbaz while recalling that PML-N was thrown out thrice said his party could never even think of bringing any harm to the country, unlike his opponents, saying they put the entire opposition behind bars and used language that cannot be uttered out loud.

Claiming that his party and leadership never thought of the politics of revenge, Shehbaz recalled that the country saw a day when GHQ, corps commander houses, and airfields were attacked on May 9, saying such events were unforgettable.