Updates: Imran Khan is now officially Pakistan’s 22nd prime minister

Newly elected prime minister Imran Khan will take oath on Saturday (today) as the 22nd prime minister of the country.

President Mamnoon Hussain will administer the oath of the office of the prime minister to him. The oath-taking ceremony will be held at President House in Islamabad.

Imran has arrived at President House.

Imran’s wife Bushra Maneka arrived at President House at 9:57am.

The prime minister’s security protocol arrived at Bani Gala to take Imran to President House at 9am and Imran left Bani Gala around half an hour later.

“Imran Khan has the capabilities and vision to bring change,” said Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi. Our prayers are with him, he said.

Guests have started to arrive at President House.

“It was our dream to see Imran Khan as prime minister,” said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan. We will continue to perform the way we performed in KP for last five years, he added.

“The two biggest parties in the country, the PML-N and PPP, have not been able to deliver. Now we have hope in the shape of Imran Khan,” said PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Imran’s teammates from the 1992 cricket World Cup Waseem Akram, Javed Miandad, Ramiz Raja, Mushtaq Ahmed and Aqib Javed are at President House to attend their former captain’s oath-taking ceremony.

The ceremony was supposed to start at 9:30am.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has arrived at President House.

Road to Prime Minister House

On Friday, the PTI chief was elected prime minister with 176 votes. His opponent, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, secured 96 votes. The PPP members refrained from voting.

After being elected the PM, Imran said in his speech, “I thank the nation for giving me the chance to bring a change… a change that this country was waiting for for 70 years.”

The first thing we must do is carrying out sweeping accountability, he said. “As God as my witness, no single NRO will be given to any dacoit.” They will all be made to bring the money back.

No military dictator reared me, he said. My father was not in politics. I did not have any experience. It has been a 22-year struggle, he added.

The only other person who struggled like this, was my leader, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

In an event indicative of the country’s bitter political divisions, opposition lawmakers surrounded Imran and disrupted his speech by shouting “thief, thief Imran Khan” and “puppet”.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/2018/08/updates-imran-khan-to-take-oath-as-pakistans-22nd-prime-minister/