ISLAMABAD – Imran Khan took oath as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan on Friday at a ceremony held at the President House Islamabad.
Imran Khan secured 176 votes; while, he needed a simple majority of 172 in the 342-seat National Assembly to take power. His only rival, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president, Shehbaz Sharif, won 96 votes.
PML-N leaders protested in the assembly following the announcement of the result.
President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath of the office of the prime minister at the House.
Imran stood on stage along with caretaker prime minister, Nasirul Mulk, and president, Mamnoon Hussain.
Pakistan Chief of the Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and the country’s naval and air force chiefs were also present at the ceremony along with Dr Hassan Askari, Asad Umar, Chaudhry Sarwar, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shireen Mazari, Jahangir Tareen, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Cricketer Waseem Akram, Javed Miandad, Ramiz Raja, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aqib Javed and singers Salman Ahmed and Abrarul Haq, actor Javed Sheikh also attended the oath-taking ceremony at the President House.
After the ceremony concluded, PM Khan reached the Prime Minister’s Office and was presented a guard of honor by a contingent of the Pakistan Army.
“Imran Khan has the capabilities and vision to bring change,” said Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi. Our prayers are with him, he said.
“It was our dream to see Imran Khan as prime minister,” said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan. “We will continue to perform the way we performed in KP for last five years,” he added.
“The two biggest parties in the country, the PML-N and PPP, have not been able to deliver. Now we have hope in the shape of Imran Khan,” said PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
After being elected the PM, Imran said in his speech, “I thank the nation for giving me the chance to bring a change… a change that this country was waiting for 70 years.”
The first thing we must do is carrying out sweeping accountability, he said. “As God as my witness, no single NRO will be given to any dacoit.” They will all be made to bring the money back.
“No military dictator reared me, he said. My father was not in politics. I did not have any experience. It has been a 22-year struggle,” he added.
The only other person who struggled like this, was my leader, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
In an event indicative of the country’s bitter political divisions, opposition lawmakers surrounded Imran and disrupted his speech by shouting “thief, thief Imran Khan” and “puppet”.
