ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s new cabinet with 19 members took oath on Monday, tasked with running the South Asian country of 241 million people facing profound economic, political and security challenges. The new government will also have to tackle a surge in militancy, with Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa worst hit by attacks. Independent candidates backed by Khan gained the most seats, 93, after the elections, but Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of the Bhutto dynasty agreed to an alliance to form a coalition government. Protests over the weekend saw over a hundred PTI leaders and supporters arrested, according to the party. Sharif will also have to manage ties with the all-powerful military, which has directly or indirectly dominated Pakistan since independence.
