India's Narendra Modi felicitates Shehbaz Sharif on taking oath as prime minister

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his congratulations to Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday for being sworn in as Pakistan's 24th premier.

"Congratulations to @CMShehbaz on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan," read the statement on the Indian prime minister's official Twitter handle.

President Arif Alvi administered the oath to Shehbaz a day earlier, after he was elected as the prime minister on Sunday. This marks Shehbaz's return to the top office after his previous 16-month-long stint from April 2022 to August 2023.

This is the second time that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president will serve as the nation's premier, having received 201 votes against his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) opponent Omar Ayub Khan, who secured 92 votes in a session of the Parliament's lower house that was marred by ruckus.

Previously, numerous world leaders and diplomats, including Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iran's Ebrahim Raisi, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Cameron, and US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome, had also congratulated Shehbaz on assuming the role of the country's chief executive.