Pakistan’s parliament has elected Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s next prime minister, following Imran Khan’s ouster in a no-confidence vote over the weekend. Prior to Monday’s voting, members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party resigned en masse, vowing to boycott Sharif’s election as the younger brother of three-term Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has been elected,” Acting Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq announced.
Sharif pledged a raise in salary, pensions, and the minimum wage for laborers in his inaugural address to the National Assembly. He acknowledged the departing government’s foreign policy shortcomings and pledged to speed up the multibillion-dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and mend strained relations with partners and friends.
“We want to have good relations with India, but there can be no lasting peace until the Kashmir issue is resolved,” he said.
Sharif requested his Indian counterpart to assist him in resolving the Kashmir problem in accordance with UN resolutions.
Sharif got 174 votes earlier this month and will now create a new administration that will last until August 2023, when general elections are scheduled.