Kapil Dev, Sidhu, Gavaskar back on Imran Khan’s oath ceremony guest list

In a change of heart, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has decided to invite Indian celebrities to the oath-taking ceremony of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan who takes over as Pakistan’s Prime Minister on August 18 in Islamabad, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader said on Friday.

Senator Faisal Javed tweeted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party led by Khan has invited Indian cricketers Kapil Dev, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sunil Gavaskar to attend the oath taking ceremony of Imran Khan.

“Imran Khan to take oath as Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan on the 18th Aug 2018 inshALLAH (if God wills)”, Javed tweeted.

Just last week, the party had suggested Imran Khan had decided against inviting foreign leaders and celebrities to his oath-taking ceremony as he wanted to keep the event very simple.

His party had initially planned to invite several foreign leaders and personalities, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bollywood superstar Amir Khan and Indian cricketers like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavasker and Navjot Singh Sidhu to the event.

However, Dawn newspaper quoted PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry as saying , “The PTI chairman has directed to stage the oath-taking event with austerity.”

Parliamentary party leader

The PTI’s parliamentary committee on Monday officially named party chairman Imran Khan as their parliamentary leader and nominee for the next prime minister of Pakistan.

The PTI, which secured 116 general seats in the National Assembly in the July 25 polls is the largest party in the lower house of parliament.

Geo News reported that President Mamnoon Hussain has decided to postpone his visit to Scotland in order to administer the oath to the next prime minister.

Mamnoon was scheduled to visit Edinburgh from August 16 to August 19.

“The president will now embark on his trip after the oath-taking ceremony,” the report said.

Earlier in the day, the Election Commission of Pakistan accepted the unconditional written apology from Khan for violating the secrecy of the ballot, removing the last possible hurdle in his swearing-in.

The 65-year-old leader had contested from five constituencies and won all of them.

Yesterday, PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said, “Imran Khan will be elected prime minister of the country ‘within the first round’ of vote in the parliament.”

He further claimed that his party has the support of 180 members in the National Assembly. The party needed the support of 172 lawmakers in the house of 342 to form the government.

As many as 28 independent winning candidates of the National Assembly yesterday notified the election commission of joining the PTI, giving a major boost to Khan’s party which can now claim seats reserved for women and minorities. There are a total of 70 nominated seats in the National Assembly.

First Published: Aug 10, 2018 19:38 IST