Pakistan’s parliament has elected Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister following the weekend removal of Imran Khan in a vote of no confidence.
Ahead of the vote on Monday, lawmakers from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party resigned en masse, boycotting the election of Sharif, the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The vote was held under tight security, with nearly all roads leading to the National Assembly sealed.
Sharif, who led the opposition effort to dismiss Khan, has promised his government would improve the economy and not seek revenge from political opponents.
The 70-year-old leader comes from a family of industrialists that has become a political dynasty.
He was elected to National Assembly in 2018 and headed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party after his elder brother was barred from holding public office for life after being held guilty of corruption.
The next prime minister is almost certain to be a political dynast of the sort that Imran once said he would drive out of Pakistani politics. Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Imran’s predecessor, Nawaz Sharif, runs the main opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of another former prime minister and head of the second-largest opposition group, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has confirmed he wants Shehbaz to have the job, for now at least.
Often referred to as the “can-do administrator”, Shehbaz worked closely with China on Beijing-funded projects. He also said in an interview last week that good relations with the United States were critical for Pakistan for better or for worse, in stark contrast to Khan’s recently antagonistic relationship with Washington.
The more pressing problem in foreign affairs remains Pakistan’s immediate neighbours. The Sharifs have had good relations with India and even the country’s current Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has sounded conciliatory while talking about ties with New Delhi. He had said on April 2 that he wants talks with India and is ready to “move forward” over Kashmir. “Pakistan continues to believe in using dialogue and diplomacy to resolve all outstanding issues including the Kashmir dispute and is ready to move forward on this front if India agrees to do so,” Bajwa had said.
