Photo released by the Press Information Department (PID) on Aug. 18, 2018 shows Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain (R) administers the oath to Imran Khan (L) as Prime Minister of Pakistan in Islamabad, Pakistan. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan here on Saturday morning. (Xinhua/PID)
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan on Saturday morning took the oath of office of Pakistan's prime minister at the President House in the capital Islamabad.
Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath for Khan who assumed office as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan.
A large number of guests including veteran politicians, members of the parliament, provincial governors and chief ministers, chiefs of the three armed forces, envoys and ambassadors of different countries were present at the oath-taking ceremony. Former international cricket players, including Navjot Singh Sidhu from India, also attended the ceremony on Khan's invitation.
Following the oath-taking ceremony, the prime minister was given the guard of honor by the armed forces at the PM House. However, Khan has announced not to reside in the lavish residence as his austerity movement is to cut government expenditures.
Khan, 65, started his political career by establishing his party the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or the Movement for Justice in 1996. His party ruled northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from 2013 to 2018.
Khan's party emerged as the single largest party in the July 25 parliamentary elections of the country.
Earlier on Friday evening, Khan was elected as prime minister after receiving 176 votes in the 342-member National Assembly or the lower house of the parliament. Shehbaz Sharif, the candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PLM-N) that led the previous government, bagged 96 votes.
In his first address to the parliament as prime minister, Khan vowed to speed up the anti-corruption campaign and focus on generating the country's own revenues to avoid taking loans.
"Neither shall I spare anyone who looted the country's money nor shall I give any relaxation to anyone who robbed the national exchequer. I shall introduce strict accountability for all," Khan told the National Assembly.
Pakistan has been running an anti-corruption campaign for the last couple of years. Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her daughter's husband Muhammad Safdar have been sentenced for 10 years, seven years and one year in jail, respectively, for possessing assets beyond their known incomes.
Increase in revenues by reforming the taxing system and bringing foreign investments, a betterment of economy overall, poverty alleviation and campaign against corruption are the salient features of Khan's party's manifesto.
According to Khan's several interviews with media, he was born in a middle-class family in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore. He is the only son among five children of his father Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer. Ikramullah Khan Niazi managed to provide Khan with privileged education at the Aitchison College in Lahore.
He continued his studies at the Royal Grammar School Worcester in Britain where he had proven his name as a talented cricketer.
In 1972, Khan was enrolled in Keble College, Oxford where he served as captain of the Oxford University cricket team. He graduated with honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1975.
He also served as the chancellor of the University of Bradford in Britain between 2005 and 2014.
Khan is ranked as one of the most successful cricket players in the world. He retired from cricket after leading the Pakistan team to win the World Cup 1992, the victory which helped him raise funds to establish the first of its kind cancer hospital and research center in Pakistan that offers free treatment to needy patients. He established the hospital in Lahore in the memory of his mother who died of cancer.
Khan, for the first time, married to British business tycoon James Goldsmith's daughter Jemima Goldsmith in Paris in 1995. The couple had two children, and divorced nine years later.
In January 2015, Khan confirmed his marriage to Pakistan origin British journalist Reham Khan which ended in October the same year in a divorce.
In February 2018, Khan married religious spiritual faith healer Bushra.
Khan, who is also recognized as a famous commentator and motivational speaker, has published six works of non-fiction, including an autobiography and a book about Pakistan.
He is fond of animals, and is keeping a couple of pet dogs, several goats, cows and buffaloes at his house built at a mountain near the Rawal Lake in Banigala village close to Islamabad.
