Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif thanks Modi for congratulating him on his re-election
Pakistan's newly elected PM Shehbaz Sharif thanks PM Modi for felicitating him on his re-election
Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for congratulating him on his re-election.
"Thank you @narendramodi for felicitations on my election as the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” Sharif wrote in a post on X.
Shehbaz Sharif, 72, clinched his second term as Pakistan's prime minister on March 3, securing 201 votes in parliament amidst protests. Pakistan President Arif Alvi administered oath to Shehbaz Sharif at the Aiwan-i-Sadr.
Sharif's party, the PML-N, is leading a coalition government alongside Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
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PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had endorsed his younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, for the prime minister's position and party loyalist Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for the speaker of the national assembly role.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on taking oath as the 24th prime minister of Pakistan.
"Congratulations to @CMShehbaz on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan," Modi posted on X.
In his victory speech in the National Assembly soon after he was elected as the 24th prime minister and for a second time since 2022, Sharif said his government would not allow the country to become part of some "great game" and would maintain cordial relations with neighbours based on the principles of equality, according to PTI.
"We will keep ties with neighbours on the basis of equality,” he said.
Sharif, however, had also raked up the Kashmir issue and equated it with Palestine. "Let's all come together...and the National Assembly should pass a resolution for the freedom of Kashmiris and Palestinians," he had said.
Who won in Pakistan election?
• Independent candidates aligned with Imran Khan's PTI claimed 93 out of 265 national assembly seats.
• Nawaz Sharif's PML-N emerged victorious at 75 seats in the national assembly.
• Pakistan People's Party (PPP) secured 54 seats in the national assembly.
• Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), representing Urdu-speaking people who migrated from India during partition, got 17 seats.
• Election to one seat was postponed following the death of a candidate.
As per Pakistan's constitution, a party must win 133 out of the 265 contested seats in the 266-member national assembly to form a government.
