In maiden address, Pakistan’s PM-elect Shehbaz Sharif rakes up Kashmir

Islamabad, March 3

Pakistan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday raked up the Kashmir issue in his maiden address, but pledged to improve ties with all leading nations, including the country’s neighbours.

‘Will improve ties with neighbours’

PM-elect Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan would not become part of any ‘great game’ and his government would increase the number of friends. He vowed to improve ties with all leading nations, including its neighbours. “We will keep ties with neighbours on the basis of equality,” he said.

Shehbaz said Pakistan would not become part of any “great game” and his government would increase the number of friends.

“We will keep ties with neighbours on the basis of equality,” Shehbaz, 72, said as he easily won the election in the National Assembly to become Pakistan’s Prime Minister for the second time.

Shehbaz, however, raked up the Kashmir issue and equated it with Palestine. “Let’s all come together… and the National Assembly should pass a resolution for the freedom of Kashmiris and Palestinians,” he said.

He also thanked his allies in the coalition government for putting their trust in him and making him leader of the House.

“When Nawaz Shaif was elected the PM thrice, the development that followed in the country is an example of its own. And it is not wrong to say that Nawaz is the one who built Pakistan,” Shehbaz said in his victory speech. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president thanked his elder brother Nawaz and all allies for putting their trust in him.

Shehbaz, who was the consensus candidate of the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), received 201 votes in the 336-member House. Shehbaz’s challenger Omar Ayub Khan of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf secured 92 votes.

Shehbaz said the country was facing challenges primarily due to the fragile economy. He said he was starting his tenure when the country was facing a budgetary deficit of more than one trillion rupees.

“How we will pay the salaries for armed forces and how to pay the civil servants,” he wondered, adding that reforming the economy was the biggest challenge faced by the country.

Shehbaz highlighted the burden of debt paying and said that the country was required to pay billions of rupees in interest only. He will be administered the oath of office on Monday.