ISLAMABAD: President-elect Dr Arif Alvi took oath as the 13th head of state on Sunday. He was administered the oath by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar at a ceremony held at President House.

Mr Alvi, who was clad in traditional black sherwani, followed the chief justice as the latter read out the oath, pledging allegiance to Pakistan and to carry out his duties in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa were among the guests who attended the oath-taking ceremony.

Outgoing President Mamnoon Hussain was also present on the occasion.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Shah and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also attended the ceremony.

The Saudi information minister, Awwad Bin Saleh Al Awwad, who is in Islamabad on an official visit, was also in attendance.

Mr Alvi replaced Mr Hussain who relinquished his charge on completion of his five-year presidential term on Saturday.

Mamnoon Hussain, who assumed the office of the top constitutional post on Sept 09, 2013, stayed in the Presidency for a constitutional period of five years. He was presented a farewell guard of honour by a contingent of the armed forces at the President House as he officially left the Presidency yesterday.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) candidate Dr Arif Alvi won the presidential election held on Sep 4 with 352 votes, followed by PML-N backed candidate Maulana Fazlur Rehman who managed to secure 184, while Aitzaz Ahsan of the PPP bagged 124 votes.

After being elected as president of the country, Mr Alvi stepped down from his seat in the National Assembly.

A former dentist, Alvi has been a key confidante of Imran Khan on both party and national issues.

He served as the PTI’s secretary general for eight years from 2006, and was elected an MP in the southern megacity of Karachi in 2013, winning re-election in the July vote. A father of four and enthusiastic Twitter user, Alvi was shot and wounded during a protest against military dictator Ayub Khan in Lahore in 1969. He still has a bullet embedded in his right arm. The election of the PTI marks the end of decades of rotating leadership between the ousted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), punctuated by periods of army rule. But Khan and his cabinet face a myriad of challenges including a faltering economy, extremism, water shortages, and a rapidly growing population negating growth in the developing country.

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