Khan to be sworn in as new Pakistan PM
FORMER cricket star Imran Khan will be sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan today.
He was elected to be the leader of his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party by the country’s National Assembly, paving the way for him to form a coalition government.
Mr Khan’s party won the most seats in the general election last month, setting him up to become prime minister more than two decades after he first entered politics.
Inheriting a country with a mounting economic crisis he has vowed to create a “new Pakistan”.
Mr Khan, 65, ran an anti-poverty and anti-corruption campaign that pledged to improve the lives of the poor with an “Islamic welfare state”.
The former cricket hero, who captained Pakistan to World Cup victory in 1992, was once married to socialite Jemima Goldsmith with whom he has two sons.
On Twitter, Ms Goldsmith was quizzed as to why their children were not in Islamabad to celebrate.
The 44-year-old replied: “They wanted to be there. Their father asked them not to come.”
She added an emoji that suggested she did not understand his reasons for not wanting them with him.
The couple divorced in 2004 after nine years of marriage.
The day before Mr Khan’s election his party suspended one of its new MPs after footage emerged showing the politician beating up a citizen.