ISLAMABAD: As Pakistani origin Briton Sadiq Khan became the mayor of London for a historic third time, Prime Min-ister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the Labour Party leader on achieving a “hat-trick”.
Khan beat Conservative challenger Susan Hall in the local elections across England, confirming the polit-ical supremacy of his party, which is the main opposition group in the country’s politics.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, PM Shehbaz felicitated the third-time London mayor, expressing pride in him and his competence in public service.
“The proud son of a hardworking British Pakistani has made every Pakistani proud, not just his parents. Being elected as the Mayor of London for the third time is a testament to Sadiq Khan’s ability and pub-lic service,” the premier wrote.
He also wished Khan more success in the future.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also congratulated Khan on his re-election as the Mayor of London and wished him success.
“I wish him every success as he continues his onward march to serve the people of London with dedi-cation and distinction!” Dar said in a post on X. Following Khan’s victory in last week’s local elections, #SadiqKhan became a trend on the social media site as hundreds of tweets poured in to congratulate him.
Meanwhile, his opponent Susan Hall issued a video statement claiming that it was she who had won the mayoral election but her “votes were stolen”.
However, the Londoners expressed trust in Khan in their tweets.
Khan, 53, who became the first Muslim mayor of the British capital in 2016, has pledged to build more social housing and work with a future national Labour government to boost police capacity.
Speaking at City Hall after his win, Khan said: “We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity, but I could-n’t be more proud that we answered the fear-mongering with facts, hate with hope, and attempts to divide with efforts to unite.
“We ran a campaign that was in keeping with the spirit and values of this great city, a city that regards our diversity not as a weakness, but as an almighty strength — and one that rejects right hard-wing populism and looks forward, not back.” –Agencies
