Shehbaz Sharif to visit calamity-hit Gwadar in first official visit as PM

• PM-elect Shehbaz Sharif to take oath today at 3pm. 
• Gwadar was submerged due to heavy rainfall last week.
• Shehbaz was elected as Pakistan's 24th PM yesterday. 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister-elect Shehbaz Sharif will make a visit to calamity-hit Gwadar district on Tuesday as the first official engagement after taking oath as the country's chief executive, The News reported Monday. 

Shehbaz, who was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) candidate for the PM's slot, was elected as the country's premier on Sunday after bagging 201 votes. 

The PM-designate was contesting against the Sunni Ittehad Council's (SIC) candidate Omar Ayub Khan who managed to secure only 92 votes in the PM's election. 

Apart from PML-N, Shehbaz enjoyed the support of seven other parties i.e. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and National Party (NP).

Later in the day today, the PM-elect will take the oath of office from President Dr Arif Alvi and then he would be presented a guard of honour on his arrival at the Prime Minister’s House on Monday afternoon.

The oath-taking ceremony is set to take place at 3pm today.

It may be pointed out that the prime minister, in his maiden speech on election as premier, expressed the commitment to address the deprivation of the people of Balochistan province.

The coastal city of Balochistan was submerged due to heavy rainfall last week.

Shehbaz Sharif is likely to announce a relief package for Gwadar and will also make other announcements for the province. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti and senior officials would also accompany the prime minister during the visit.

The official sources said that the prime minister would have a hectic schedule during the first 45 days as he did in his first tenure till things are streamlined.

This is the second consecutive time Shehbaz has been elected the prime minister. 

He was elected as Pakistan's 23rd premier after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan was voted out of power via a no-confidence motion in 2022.

He remained the prime minister from April 11, 2022, to August 2023, and handed the reins of the government to a caretaker setup.