Pakistan's World Cup cricket hero Imran Khan will be sworn in as prime minister next week, his party said on Friday, announcing it has the numbers to form a coalition government in the lower house of parliament.
Imran's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the entire squad that Imran captained to victory in the 1992 World Cup were invited to the ceremony, as well as Indian cricket greats Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Navjot Singh Sidhu.
"In a historic moment, Imran Khan will take the oath (as prime minister) on August 18," Faisal Javed Khan, a PTI senator and Imran's close aide, said in televised comments in Islamabad.
Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain has called a session of the new National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, starting August 13.
Earlier, India's high commissioner in Pakistan Ajay Bisaria called on Imran and congratulated him on his victory.
"Discussed the need to restart dialogue between Pak & India on all outstanding issues including Kashmir," Imran's spokeswoman Anila Khawaja told after the meeting.
The Indian high commission tweeted that Bisaria had gifted Imran a cricket bat autographed by the entire Indian national team.
The PTI leader brings charisma and international name recognition, but running the country will take considerable statecraft from his relatively inexperienced party.
He has already vowed to rebalance Islamabad's relationship with the United States, months after United States President Donald Trump suspended security aid over Islamabad's alleged failure to target militancy along its borders.
Source: Khaleej Times