Shehbaz Sharif became the 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan by securing 201 votes on Sunday, 24 days after the ‘controversial general elections’ in the country.
The magic number to clinch the office of prime minister was 169 votes. After the vote count, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq announced that Shehbaz obtained 201 votes while his opponent, PTI’s Omar Ayub, got 92 votes.
Since no single party could gain a majority in the assembly, Shehbaz has become premier with the support of PML-N’s allies – PPPP, MQM-P, PML-Q, BAP, and others.
The new government is faced with mammoth economic challenges. High inflation, unemployment, the ongoing IMF programme and possible engagement for a fresh IMF loan to improve the balance of payments situation, debt restructuring, framing a new resource-sharing formula between the Centre and provinces, National Finance Commission (NFC) and privatisation of loss-making state-owned entities await the new coalition government. Running a coalition government itself would be a challenge for the new prime minister.
Soon after the speaker declared Shehbaz as the new prime minister of the country, PTI-SIC lawmakers encircled the newly-elected PM’s chair and started chanting slogans. The assembly was abuzz with slogans of ‘Sher’ and ‘Chor’. Amid the sloganeering, PM Shehbaz began his maiden speech.
Surprising as it may seem, Shehbaz delivered the speech while standing beside his elder brother and three-time former PM, Nawaz Sharif, who was elected as MNA but opted out of the race for the prime minister just days after the general elections.
In his maiden speech as the 24th prime minister, Shehbaz thanked the PML-N’s allies and his brother, three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, for trusting him to lead the country. PTI-backed lawmakers chanted slogans of ‘chor’ as Shehbaz spoke as the newly elected Leader of the House.
“When my quaid was elected the prime minister thrice, the development that followed in the country is an example of its own. And it is not wrong to say that Nawaz Sharif is the one who built Pakistan,” said the newly-elected premier.
Paying tribute to his allies and the PPP, he said the nation will always remember the sacrifices of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Shehbaz, hinting at PTI, said his elder brother has never even thought of harming the country and regretted how the PML-N was treated during the tenure of the PTI government. “They put the entire opposition behind bars, they didn’t care about women or children and used language that cannot be said out loud.”
The new prime minister also vowed to steer Pakistan out of its current crisis.
He added that the job was difficult but not insurmountable.
The newly-elected premier said Pakistan is facing an alarming debt crisis, and vowed to make Pakistan “self-sufficient”. “But if we decide to do a deep surgery and bring changes in the system, basic reforms, and I do not doubt that Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and others will agree that we can either get rid of a life of debt or we move forward in shame.” “We will rise and we will make Pakistan self-sufficient,” said Shehbaz.
He maintained that the people of Pakistan were suffering the burden of sky-high electricity and gas prices and said “electricity and tax thefts are a matter of life and death for Pakistan”.
He added that he would bring a technological model to reduce tax theft, which he maintained, would “reduce inflation, increase employment, the country will grow”.
Shehbaz also promised subsidies for farmers and said a package on solar tube-wells will be announced soon. He promised that the “seed mafia” would be eliminated soon and Pakistan would import seeds from the best countries in the world to provide them to farmers.
He added that the federal government would work with all provinces in the agriculture sector. Shehbaz also said efficient public transport and state-of-the-art hospitals and medical facilities will be provided to the people.
Referring to justice, he said the government would work on introducing a system through which the people will get swift justice and those women and children who are currently incarcerated and whose sentences are less than two years, will be freed.
The PML-N president reiterated that perpetrators of the May 9 riots will not be forgiven, vowing action against all those who were involved in the riots. Shehbaz also promised to end terrorism in the country and address its root causes. He said the aim of his government is to take the National Action Plan (NAP) forward.
