POLITICS Imran Khan Faces ‘Grave Difficulties’ As He Takes On Role Of Pakistan PM
Inside Pakistan’s palatial Presidential House – before a crowd that included the country’s allpowerful army chief, top businessmen, cricket stars and a first lady in a white silk abaya robe – Imran Khan, former cricket captain, was sworn in on Saturday as Pakistan’s Prime Minister.
Simple ceremony
The ceremony was a simple affair by Pakistan’s opulent standards, with just tea served instead of a set nine-dish menu – a first show of austerity by a leader who has promised to create millions of jobs and turn the PM’s sprawling official residence into an education facility instead of living in it.
It was also the apogee of the political career of the sportsman-turnedpolitician who has spent the past 22 years prowling the margins of Pakistani politics and railing against the country’s corrupt, dynastic politicians.
Mr Khan led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, and built a world-class cancer hospital – but he has never held public office.
Top challenges
Among his top challenges will be resolving a currency crisis that will require an International Monetary Fund bailout, and consolidating hard-won gains against a 15-year Islamist insurgency.
Mr Khan also comes to power at a time when ties with on-off ally the United States and neighbours India and Afghanistan are particularly frayed.
Pakistanis confident of new leader
More than 200 million Pakistanis, suffering unemployment, power shortages and terrorist attacks, will be keeping their fingers crossed. Wali Shah was sitting on a busy street corner in Islamabad’s upmarket F-7 neighbourhood. He had travelled there a month ago from Punjab province to look for work, without success.
“But now that Imran Khan is PM, I am hopeful something good will happen. Things are going to change for Pakistan,”” Mr Shah said. Many working and middle-class Pakistanis see Mr Khan as an incorruptible outsider who will impose discipline and honesty on the government.
Mr Khan, a firebrand nationalist, rose to power promising radical change, saying he would redistribute wealth, hold the country’s political elite accountable for corruption, make more people pay taxes, and improve the lives of the poor by building world-class schools and hospitals.
Three weeks have passed since Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won 151 of the 342 seats in the Lower House of Parliament, not enough for a simple majority. Mr Khan’s first challenge has been cobbling together a precarious coalition.
Critics
The senate is controlled by the opposition.
“If the PTI is serious about ushering in deep-rooted change, it will need to pass key legislation, or otherwise build consensus around large-scale reform efforts. Finding a way to build bridges will be key,” said Khurram Husain, an editor at
Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper.
“The incoming government will have to work with other parliamentary parties, which will be a challenge in the current climate of polarisation.”
Critics accuse Khan and his team of inexperience. A council of 15 ministers will be sworn in on Monday.
In a surprise move, Mr Khan will retain around 18 portfolios for himself.
“Saying Khan’s team is inexperienced is an understatement,” said Ahsan Iqbal, a minister in the last government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the now-jailed leader of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN).
“It’s one thing to be enrolled in an introductory college course; these people are starting kindergarten. They don’t know the first thing about running a government.”