Imran Khan confirmed as Pakistan PM

International Desk: Former cricket star Imran Khan has been elected prime minister of Pakistan in a vote at the country's National Assembly.

His PTI party won the most seats in July's elections - setting up Mr Khan to become PM with the help of small parties, more than two decades after he first entered politics.

He will be sworn in on Saturday.

Mr Khan, 65, will inherit a country with a mounting economic crisis and he has vowed to create a "new Pakistan".

The charismatic sports star, who captained Pakistan to a World Cup victory in 1992, has long shed his celebrity playboy image and now styles himself as a pious, populist, anti-poverty reformer.

He ran on an anti-corruption platform that pledged to improve the lives of the country's poor with an "Islamic welfare state".

In Friday's vote, Mr Khan was backed by 176 National Assembly members. His opponent, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif, received 96 votes.
 

Source: BBC
 

risingbd/Dhaka/August 17, 2018/A K Azad