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Shehbaz Sharif takes oath as prime minister of Pakistan

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani administers the oath to Shehbaz Sharif.
Shehbaz was elected as the premier after the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
President Alvi missed the ceremony after he complained of “discomfort”.

ISLAMABAD: Shehbaz Sharif took oath on Monday as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan.

He was administered the oath by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani as President Arif Alvi complained of “discomfort”, according to the president’s Twitter account, hours before the oath-taking ceremony.

Shehbaz was elected as the premier after the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion.

Earlier in the day, Shehbaz secured 174 votes in the NA as opposed to PTI’s candidate Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who received no votes after his party decided to boycott the polling process.

The poll took place under the chairmanship of MNA Ayaz Sadiq, two days after the lower house of Parliament voted in favour of removing Imran Khan from office, following a nearly 14-hour standoff between the Opposition and Khan’s ruling party that started on Saturday morning.

Shehbaz’s profile

Shehbaz is the longest-serving chief minister of the Punjab province, having served on the post three times since he began his political career nearly four decades ago.

Sharif is the son of Mian Muhammad Sharif, a well-known businessman, and the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan.

Shehbaz is a graduate of the Government College in Lahore. He first came into the spotlight in 1985, when he was appointed the president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

But his foray into politics began in 1988 when Sharif was elected as a member of the Punjab assembly (MPA). He served for a short stint, till 1990 when the assembly was dissolved.

The same year, he contested and won a national assembly constituency and became a member of the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament. In 1993, he again returned to the Punjab assembly and was appointed leader of the opposition till 1996.

Then in 1997, Sharif won a Punjab constituency for the third time and went on to become the chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan’s most politically important province. However, after the military overthrew the PML-N government, Sharif was imprisoned and later sent into exile for eight years.

Returning in 2008, Sharif was again elected as a member of the Punjab assembly and then became chief minister for a second term. This time he served his full term as chief minister.

After the general polls in 2013, Sharif returned as chief minister of his home province. While in the 2018 polls, he decided to retain his national assembly seat and was nominated as the leader of the Opposition.

In 2019, Shehbaz Sharif declared his net wealth to be Rs100,725,909 to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), including investments in Hudabiya Engineering, Hamza Spinning Mills and Hudabiya Paper Mills as well as agricultural properties in Sheikhupura and Lahore.

Latest News

PM Shehbaz will meet with Saudi ministers and speak at the WEF special session today.

Published

11 hours ago

Farwa

On the third day of his visit to the Kingdom, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will speak at the World Economic Forum Special Meeting’s final plenary, which is titled “Rejuvenating Growth.”

Other speakers at the concluding plenary, in addition to the prime minister, are Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim, British Secretary of State David Cameron, WEF Geneva President Brørge Brende, and WEF Head of Middle East and North Africa Maroun Kairouz.

Meetings with Saudi ministers of trade, energy, the environment, and agriculture are also scheduled for the third day of the prime minister’s visit. He will probably also meet with his counterpart from Malaysia.

Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister and crown prince of Saudi Arabia, will be present at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development, which gets underway here today.

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The nomination of Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister raises concerns.

Published

11 hours ago

Farwa

A lot of doubts have been raised by Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, being appointed deputy prime minister.

No reference to the Constitution, regulations, or any other law was mentioned in the Cabinet Division’s notification of the appointment.

What powers Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used to designate Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister has come under scrutiny in light of this.

There are questions about the legal foundation for the deputy prime minister’s nomination as it appears from the notification’s phrasing that rules for the position have not yet been established, according to insiders.

Likewise, the announcement is vague about the deputy prime minister’s proposed authority.

Deputy prime minister would be purely symbolic, according to government sources, and would not be authorized to carry out prime ministerial duties. In Pakistan, the deputy prime minister has previously been nominated.

The PPP administration appointed Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as deputy prime minister.

Observe that Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was appointed deputy prime minister on Sunday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s consent; the Cabinet Division formally announced the appointment.

Dar holds the position of Pakistan’s fourth deputy prime minister. Previous appointments to the position of deputy prime ministers included Parvez Elahi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto.

Latest News

The green colour of WhatsApp ‘angers’ some users.

Published

11 hours ago

Farwa

After changing its display colour from blue to green, WhatsApp, which was before well-known for its blue motif, caused its users to hold divergent views.

New upgrades to the Meta app always spark a lot of discussion, regardless of how big or small the changes are.

Still, Meta-owned WhatsApp hopes that these modifications would “make it more accessible as well as easier to use” and offer a “modern, new experience” with relation to the updated display color.

A statement from the firm claimed that they had altered WhatsApp’s “looks and feels, including spacing, colors, icons, and more.”

Both iOS and Android users can now view the new WhatsApp update; the green tint on the latter has changed from the previous version.

However, iPhone users will notice that every display element, including the chat-list window and status bar, has changed with the recent design update. WhatsApp used to have a blue color scheme on iPhones.

Furthermore, the formerly blue links shared within the app are now displayed in green.

In addition, WhatsApp has made other improvements to improve its user experience outside of the color shift.