Desk Report
Publish: 10 Apr 2022, 07:18 pm
Leader of the opposition Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sherif, brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, gestures as he speaks to the media at the Supreme Court of Pakistan in Islamabad on April 7, 2022 || Photo: Reuters
Opposition politician Shehbaz Sharif submitted his
nomination to be Pakistan's next prime minister to the legislature on Sunday,
his party said, after incumbent Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote in
parliament after nearly four years in power.
The younger brother of three-times prime minister Nawaz
Sharif, Shehbaz, 70, has led a bid by the opposition in parliament to topple
former cricket star Khan, and he is widely expected to replace him following a
vote on Monday.
The chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had
handed in his nomination papers, Marriyum Aurangzeb, a spokeswoman for the
party said on Sunday.
Khan, the first Pakistani prime minister to be ousted by a
no confidence vote, had clung on for almost a week after a united opposition
first tried to remove him.
By dissolving parliament he delayed the vote that he said was
part of a foreign-backed plot against him, but the Supreme Court ordered parliament
to convene and vote.
Khan's government fell in the early hours of Sunday after a
13-hour session that included repeated delays and lengthy speeches by lawmakers
from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
The vote went ahead after the powerful army chief, General
Qamar Javed Bajwa, met Khan, two sources who declined to be identified said, as
criticism mounted over the delay to the parliamentary process.
The military has ruled the country of 220 million people for
almost half its nearly 75-year history.
Opposition parties were able to secure 174 votes in the
342-member house for the no-confidence motion, giving them the majority they
needed to enable Monday's vote to elect a new premier.
Khan has not commented publicly on his ouster but even
before the vote, he called for protests.
"I am going to struggle," he said in an address to
the nation on Friday.
"I tell all of my supporters across Pakistan, on
Sunday, after Isha (evening) prayers, you all have to come out of your homes
and protest peacefully against this imported government that is trying to come
to power."
‘New dawn’
Shehbaz Sharif, said Khan's departure was a chance for a new
beginning.
"A new dawn has started ... This alliance will rebuild
Pakistan," he told parliament on Sunday.
Sharif was for years chief minister of Punjab province and
has a reputation as an effective administrator.
His first tasks will be to repair relations with the
powerful military as well as ally the United States, and tend to a stuttering
economy.
The military viewed Khan and his conservative agenda
favourably when he won election in 2018, but that support waned after a
falling-out over the appointment of the influential military intelligence chief
and economic troubles that led to the largest interest rate rise in decades
this week.
Khan had antagonized the United States throughout his
tenure, welcoming the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year and more
recently accusing the United States of being behind the attempt to oust him.
Washington dismissed the accusation.
Subscribe Shampratik Deshkal Youtube Channel
© 2024 Shampratik Deshkal All Rights Reserved. Design & Developed By Root Soft Bangladesh