The announcement comes in the wake of the victory speech that Imran Khan made.
Published: Thu 9 Aug 2018, 9:29 AM
Updated: Thu 9 Aug 2018, 1:38 PM
The Pakistan Prime Minister-in-waiting, Imran Khan, will live in the chief minister's annex in Punjab House, revealed senior PTI leader Naeemul Haq on Wednesday.
The announcement comes in the wake of the victory speech that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman had made, stating he would not use the Prime Minister House as his residence.
"Punjab House is in every way an appropriate place for Khan sahib to live in," Dawn quoted Haq as saying who added that it is not too far from the prime minister's office either. Khan will be staying in the annex for 4-5 days each week, and spend the weekend at his residence in Banigala, according to Haq.
Earlier, Islamabad chief commissioner, Joudat Ayaz, inspector general of police Islamabad, Jan Mohammad, and other senior officers who visited Banigala to discuss security, said the residential area was open and vulnerable to threat. Hence, Khan had agreed not to use Banigala as his official residence and instead asked for the lowest category house at the Ministers' Enclave. As flats fall in the lowest category, the necessary protocol for a prime minister cannot be implemented there and hence senior officers advised Khan to instead pick a house.
Haq said that he has had many discussions with security agencies and is confident about the arrangements. Security has already been deployed around Khan's Banigala residence, including personnel of Islamabad traffic police and Rangers.
The oath-taking ceremony date for Pakistan's new Prime Minister has still not been finalised but Haq said that as President Mamnoon Hussain is leaving the country on August 16, PTI hopes to have the ceremony before, or on August 14 or 15. "We hope [the date] is announced today," said Haq.