LAHORE: Even after 71 years of independence Pakistan has not become a stable country as progress still revolves around a begging bowl, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday.

While speaking to the media in Model Town of Lahore, Shehbaz said the country has not achieved to its fullest and is in search of destiny even today.

“The ship of democracy has not come out of the storm yet,” he said. “We have not learnt from our mistakes.”

However, the PML-N president said he believed in the supremacy of democracy, which is why he was at the National Assembly session that took place for the oath-taking of newly elected MNAs a day earlier.

The session marked the third consecutive democratic transition of power in Pakistan.

Outgoing NA speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq administered oath to the newly-elected members. This was followed by signing of the ‘Roll of Members’.

A total of 324 MNAs took the oath, with five more yet to do so. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan, who is set to become the country’s next prime minister, was among those sworn in, along with other prominent leaders including PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Asif Zardari, and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif.

Bilawal, who has been elected to the National Assembly for the first time, shook hands with Imran Khan as the MNA-elects took their seats.

APP