Pakistan’s Sharif Set To Rule Pakistan For Third Time

Islamabad, May 13, IRNA – Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who ruled Pakistan twice, is set to assume the office for third time as his Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) has won majority seats in the May 11 elections. The PML-N leaders met in Lahore on Sunday and discussed formation of the government in center and Punjab province, a party spokesman, senator Pervez Rashid said. The PML-N has secured 124 seats and is in comfortable position to form government, according to unofficial results. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) or Justice Movement has bagged 33 while the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has won 32 seats. Some results are awaited but the trend shows that the PML-N is now in a position to form the government. Sharif will be leading Pakistan at a time when the country is facing some serious problems, including the worst energy shortage, violent extremism, corruption, bad governance and poor economic condition. When he spoke to his supporters late Saturday in what was described as “victory speech”, Sharif announced that he has already set an agenda in his mind to ‘steer Pakistan’ out of the current situation. Being a two-time Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has now years of experience to deal with the challenges Pakistan is facing. Analysts are of the view that Nawaz Sharif will mainly focus on economy as he had run his election campaign on economic agenda. The PML-N chief had himself highlighted his economic agenda during the campaign and now he has a golden opportunity to implement it. Several world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, sent messages of congratulations to Nawaz Sharif. They hoped that relations with Pakistan will be improved during the new Pakistani government./end