Islamabad, March 4: Shehbaz Sharif on Monday took the oath as Prime Minister of Pakistan, taking over the country’s reins for a second time since 2022, amidst staggering economic and security challenges.
President Arif Alvi administered the oath to the 72-year-old Shehbaz in a ceremony held at the Aiwan-i-Sadr, the presidential palace. The ceremony was attended by the three services chiefs, senior officials, diplomats, leading business people, members of the civil society and media organisations. The caretaker premier Anwaarul Haq Kakar was also present. The brief ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran, followed by the oath-taking. The ceremony was attended by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and other PML-N workers and Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah was also present on the occasion.
Shehbaz earlier served as prime minister of a coalition government from April 2022 to August 2023 before Parliament was dissolved to hold general elections last month.
Alvi had in 2022 tacitly refused to give oath to Shehbaz by saying that he was not feeling well when he was elected as premier for the first time after ousting Imran Khan through a vote of no confidence. Then Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani administered the oath to him.
It was speculated that Alvi may once again skip the official duty but he agreed.
The oath-taking ceremony comes days after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party agreed on a power – sharing deal to form a coalition government. On Sunday, Shehbaz comfortably won a majority in the newly –elected Parliament amidst sloganeering by the Opposition. Shehbaz, the consensus candidate of the PML-N and the PPP, received 201 votes in the 336-member Parliament. His challenger Omar Ayub Khan of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured 92 votes.
Pakistani experts see no immediate improvement in Indo-Pak ties
As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assumed office for a second time, experts here do not see an immediate improvement in ties between Pakistan and India due to their major differences over the vexed Kashmir issue.
The two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours have been locked in a love-hate relationship since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, having brief periods of engagement amidst conflicts.
They have so far fought at least three major wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, with both claiming it in its entirety.
The ties nosedived in 2019 after India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.
Pakistan termed the step a violation of the UN Security Council Resolutions and severed all links, including trade, with India.
Rasul Bux Raees, Professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, told PTI that the divergence in the ties has widened since 2019, and it is not easy to judge how the two sides can reverse the tide and embark on a different course that may lead them to reconciliation. (PTI)
