NEW PAKISTANI PM VOWS TO FIX ECONOMY, STOP DRONES
Islamabad, 27 Rajab 1434/6 June 2013 (MINA) – Pakistan’s new prime minister took office Wednesday, vowing in front of the parliament to fix the country’s ailing economy and end electricity blackouts while also calling for an end to American drone strikes in the tribal areas.
Nawaz Sharif was elected to an unprecedented third term as the prime minister of this country of 180 million people by an electorate frustrated with corruption, inflation and unemployment and looking to him for quickly needed solutions.
He must also navigate a tricky relationship Pakistan with the US, which has angered many Pakistanis by using unmanned aerial vehicles to kill fighters who hide in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
“I will do my best to change the fate of the people and Pakistan,” Sharif said to the parliament after he was elected, he acknowledged the size of the problems in front of him and vowed action.
Sharif received 244 votes from the 342-seat parliament, returning him to an office he held twice during the 1990s before being forced out in a military coup in 1999. He was later sworn in by President Asif Ali Zardari, the Saudi Gazette quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
During the speech to lawmakers, Sharif emphasized that fixing the country’s economy was his top priority. He listed a litany of problems facing Pakistan, including unpaid loans, unemployment, a disillusioned youth, extremism and lawlessness, and widespread corruption.
Though the speech focused mostly on domestic and economic issues close to the hearts and pocketbooks of most Pakistanis, Sharif did touch on the country’s often-tenuous relationship with the US
Specifically, he called for an end to the drone strikes used by the US to kill militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to the west.
“This daily routine of drone attacks, this chapter shall now be closed,” Sharif said to widespread applause in the parliament hall.
“We do respect others’ sovereignty. It is mandatory on others that they respect our sovereignty.”
But he gave few details on how he might end the strikes. Many in Pakistan say the strikes kill large numbers of innocent civilians, although something the US denies.
The US considers the strikes vital to battling militants such as Al-Qaeda, who use the tribal areas of Pakistan as a safe haven.
Sharif’s comments are in line with previous statements he has made calling for an end to the controversial strikes.
The vote in the National Assembly was something of a formality after Sharif’s party’s victory in the May 11 parliamentary elections. That win was a comeback for the 63-year-old Sharif.
After his 1999 ouster, he spent nearly eight years in exile, mostly in Saudi Arabia, and five years in the opposition before regaining the prime minister’s office.
His assumption of office marks a turning point for the country — the first time a democratically elected government has handed over power to another in the country’s 65-year history.
The unique nature of the transition was evident in Sharif’s speech. “Whenever dictatorship has come, Pakistan has suffered a huge loss,” he said. (T/P09/E1).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
