Shehbaz Sharif Elected As 23rd PM Of Pakistan

Islamabad, April 11  : Pakistan’s joint Opposition candidate Shehbaz Sharif was on Monday elected as the 23rd Prime Minister of the country, following the ouster of PTI’s Imran Khan. Sharif, the PML (N) leader, secured the PM slot with 174 votes of Parliamentarians in the National Assembly against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s candidate Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Voting was held under the chairmanship of MNA Ayaz Sadiq, two days after the Lower House of the Assembly voted in favour of removing Imran Khan from the office. Taking to the Floor, the newly-elected PM expressed his gratitude and said that Almighty Allah has protected the country, which was also because of the hectic efforts of the leaders of the joint Opposition members. It was for the first time in Pakistan’s history that a PM was ousted through the no-confidence motion, Shehbaz said. Terming it as a “historic day”, he mentioned that the happiness of people can be seen through the economic indicators. Shehbaz mentioned that the rupee regained its value, trading at (Pakistani) Rs 190 per dollar and closed at Rs 182 per dollar on Monday, Geo News reported. “Imran Khan was the person, who said that when (Pakistani) rupee gains Re 1 against the US dollar, then the Prime Minister of the country is a corrupt person, now he should see that the rupee has recovered around Rs 8,” he said. He also acknowledged “unanimous” verdict of the Supreme Court and said that April 11 should be marked as a “historic day” in the history of Pakistan. Taking to the Floor, former Foreign Minister Qureshi said that the constitutional process has to end today as some will be declared a winner, while the other one will be declared free. “The nation has two paths- one is of self-respect, while the other is of slavery,” he added. PTI, as a relatively new party compared to others, managed to leave a strong impression on public’s minds, he said. “In view of PTI members, the unity among the Opposition benches is unnatural because history knows that there is no ideological unity. among them,” he added. Qureshi said that they may think that some of them (Opposition members) have won, while the people on the treasury benches have lost; however, the nation showed them yesterday who they were standing with. On March 28, Sharif, as Leader of the Opposition, had tabled the no-confidence motion against the then prime minister Imran Khan. Voting on the no-confidence motion took place after the NA debated on the matter for over 12 hours and the political situation in the country took a critical turn. The motion against Khan succeeded an hour past midnight on Sunday, with 174 members in the 342-strong House voting in favour of the resolution. No PM has ever completed their term in Pakistan’s political history, but Imran Khan is the first prime minister to be removed by a vote of no-confidence. He was in power for three years and eight months. With this, Imran became the first Pakistani PM to be thrown out in this manner.