Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said on Thursday he had accepted the invitation extended by Imran Khan for attending his swearing-in ceremony as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
“It is (a) great honour, I accept the invitation. Men of genius are admired, men of power are feared, but men of character are trusted. Khan Sahab is a man of character. He can be trusted. Sportsmen build bridges, break barriers, unite people,” Sidhu said in a statement.
Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly after last week’s general elections in the neighbouring country.
Khan had said he would take oath as Pakistan’s PM on August 11. He has invited Bollywood star Aamir Khan and former cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to his oath-taking ceremony.
The decision was taken after PTI leaders met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua to discuss which foreign dignitaries could be invited to the ceremony, leading daily Dawn reported.
Earlier reports said PTI wished to invite the heads of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member states, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as those of China and Turkey. The party, however, rubbished the reports.
According to Dawn, members of the Pakistan Foreign Office said calling foreign leaders to the oath taking was “a sensitive matter” and all perspectives needed to be taken into consideration.
Though Khan’s PTI emerged as the single largest party after the July 25 election, it is still short of numbers to form its government independently.