ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan here Monday evening.
The oath-taking ceremony took place at Aiwan-e-Sadr. Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani administered oath to Shehbaz in President Dr Arif Alvi’s absence, who went on a ‘sick’ leave. President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi has fallen ill hours before administration of the oath to newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
According to the president’s official Twitter account, he complained of discomfort and has been examined by a doctor.
“President Dr Arif Alvi has complained of discomfort. The physician has examined him thoroughly and has advised him rest for a few days,” the president tweeted on Monday evening.
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza, naval chief, air chief, major political leaders including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shehbaz, Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Rana Sanaullah, senior military and civil officials and others attended the ceremony. However, the chief of army staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa was not seen at the ceremony.
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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.
He was born on 23rd September 1951. He is the current president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Shehbaz was elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in 1988 and to the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1990. He was again elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993 and named Leader of the Opposition. He was elected as chief minister for first time in 1997. Shehbaz was sworn in as the chief minister of Punjab on 20 February 1997.
After the 1999 coup, Shehbaz along with family spent eight years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, returning to Pakistan in 2007. Shehbaz was appointed chief minister for a second term after the PML-N’s victory in Punjab province in the 2008 general election. He was elected as chief minister of Punjab for the third time in 2013 and served his term until his party’s defeat in the 2018 general election.
He was nominated as the president of the PML-N after his brother Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding the party office. He was nominated as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly after the 2018 general election.
In December 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) froze 23 properties belonging to Shehbaz and his son Hamza Sharif, accusing them of money laundering.
On 28th September 2020, NAB arrested Shehbaz at Lahore High Court and indicted him on charges of money laundering. He was incarcerated pending trial. On 14th April 2021, Lahore High Court released him on bail in money laundering reference. Amid the 2020–2022 Pakistani political crises, he was elected Prime Minister on 11th April 2022 after the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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