PMl-N’s Shehbaz Sharif becomes 24th PM in rucks-hit session after obtaining 201 votes
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Sunday elected Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif as the 24th elected prime minister of the country in a session hit by the ruckus created by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
“Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has been elected prime minister with 201 votes. [While] Omar Ayub obtained 92 votes,” announced Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
The speaker then invited Shehbaz, the only politician to be elected as the PM for the second consecutive time, to sit in the prime minister’s seat and asked him to address the house.
As soon as the result was announced, the SIC lawmakers started causing a commotion and chanted slogans to disrupt the Shehabz’s speech.
Shehbaz’s victory was expected as he enjoyed the support of seven other parties apart from the PML-N. The PM-elect has the support of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP),Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and National Party (NP).
Making his maiden speech as the country’s 24th prime minister, Shehbaz — surrounded by party lawmakers — thanked PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif for nominating him for the coveted post, and expressed gratitude to his allies including PPP and the MQM-P and others for supporting him.
Taking the opportunity to highlight the country’s history of political turmoil, the prime minister-elect lamented the “judicial murder” of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and paid homage to his daughter and ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto for paying the ultimate price for democracy.
Without taking any names, Shehbaz took a jibe at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for hounding the opposition when it was in power, going against the country’s national interests while resorting to levelling serious allegations against the armed forces.
“This is the difference between the [two] leaderships. The House is witness that the [PML-N] has never even thought of indulging in politics of vengeance,” said PM-elect Shehbaz.
Elaborating on his government’s plans to steer the country out of the prevailing crises, Shehbaz said that people from all walks of life have to come together to change the country’s destiny and overcome the challenges.
Addressing the economic crunch faced by the country, the PML-N leader highlighted that out of the Rs12,300 billion generated by the country, Rs7,300 billion is given to the provinces under the National Finance Commission award and the government faces a whopping Rs7000 billion deficit due to services charges worth up to Rs8,000 billion.
“Where will the money come for development, health and education sectors? From where will the armed forces’ government employees’ salaries be paid?”
“All this is being afforded via loans throughout the years […] This is the biggest challenge faced by the country today,” he noted.
“All of our salaries are being paid via taxes. Does such a situation warrant such hooliganism?” he said while referring to the slogans and chants being raised by the PTI-backed SIC opposition members.
‘Bottomless pit’
On the issue of exuberant electricity bills, Shehbaz lamented that the circular debt (electricity) stands at Rs23,000 billion as only Rs28,000 worth of recovery is made for Rs38,000 worth of electricity that is provided to the consumers.
“There’s a gap of Rs1,000 billion which amounts to [around] $3.5 billion. Can this nation afford careless governance?”
“I would call it a ‘bottomless pit’,” he said while lamenting electricity theft worth up to Rs500 to 600 billion each year.
Meanwhile, he added, that the circular debt of the gas sector has reached the grave Rs29,000 billion due to the…
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