Daily Times

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday took oath as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan at a ceremony held at the President House, ushering in a new political era as the World Cup cricket hero officially took the reins of power in the nuclear-armed country.

A tearful Khan, clad in a traditional black sherwani, smiled as he stumbled over some of the words of the oath administered to him by President Mamnoon Hussain during the ceremony, televised live by the state broadcaster.

He swore to “bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan”, and to “discharge my duties and perform my functions honestly, to the best of my ability… and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of Pakistan.”

As the ceremony concluded, Khan proceeded to the Prime Minister House, where he was presented a guard of honour.

The ceremony at the President House in the capital marked the end of decades of rotating leadership between the ousted PML-N and the PPP, punctuated by periods of military rule.

After taking the oath as prime minister, Khan and First Lady Bushra Imran, who had reached the venue before her husband, greeted various guests.

It was Bushra’s first public appearance since their wedding earlier this year, and she appeared escorted by tight security and covered from head to toe in a white niqab.

The July 25 election that brought Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to power was branded ‘Pakistan’s dirtiest’, with accusations throughout the campaign that the military was trying to tilt the playing field in Khan’s favour.

The army and Khan have denied claims from rival parties of ‘blatant’ vote rigging.

Khan had invited the rest of the 1992 cricket team to the ceremony, and fast bowler Wasim Akram was pictured smiling among the crowd.

Another cricketer-turned-politician, India’s Navjot Singh Sidhu, was seated in the front row and earlier warmly embraced Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

High-profile guests including caretaker Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan and Naval Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi attended the ceremony.

Other notable guests included cricketer-turned-commentator Rameez Raja, newly elected Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, singers Salman Ahmed and Abrarul Haq and actor Javaid Sheikh.

Later, Khan went to the Prime Minister’s House in the capital, where he was met by a guard of honour.

Khan and his cabinet face a myriad of challenges including militant extremism, water shortages and a rapidly growing population negating growth in the developing country, among others. A massive power outage that plunged over 60 percent of the port city of Karachi and southwestern Balochistan province Friday evening starkly highlighted a chronic energy crisis the country faces.

Most pressing is a looming economic crisis, with speculation that Pakistan will have to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to address the nation on Sunday (today). His cabinet is also likely to be sworn in on Sunday (today).

Published in Daily Times, August 19^th 2018.