Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday ordered an inquiry into delays of the metro bus project from the city of Islamabad to the New Islamabad International Airport that was expected to be completed in 2018 and directed the Capital Development Authority to operationalize the service from April 16.

He visited metro bus station at the Peshawar Mor to review the on-ground progress of the project that was initiated during the PML-N's last tenure by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017 and was due to become functional in 2018.

Shehbaz expressed dismay over the delay in the completion of the project, terming it a "severe negligence" as Rs16 billion had been spent over the mega project to date.

The prime minister suggested ensuring installation of racks in the buses to accommodate the luggage of passengers en route the airport and directed running free of cost service for trial period until the installation of ticketing machines.

He also ordered free metro bus service for citizens of the federal capital during the month of Ramazan.

Broken economy

The government would take unspecified "emergency measures" to stabilise the economy, Sharif's office said later, focusing on steps to improve the condition of ordinary people.

Sharif inherits crippling national debt, galloping inflation and a feeble rupee -- although analysts say Khan also took over a broken economy in 2018 that was further battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Khan's ouster heralds the return of two dynastic parties that have dominated Pakistan politics for decades.

Sharif's centrist Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) joined forces with the centre-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) -- fiefdom of the Bhutto family -- to press the no-confidence vote.

Khan tried everything to stay in power after losing his majority in parliament through defections by his own lawmakers and a coalition partner -- including dissolving the assembly and calling a fresh election.

But the Supreme Court deemed all his actions illegal and ordered them to reconvene and vote.

On Thursday Pakistan's military insisted it played no role in the PM's ousting, although the head of its public relations wing said Khan had consulted them on his options.

There have been four coups since Pakistan attained independence in 1947 and the country has spent more than three decades under army rule.

"All what happened in recent days was part of a political process," Major-General Babar Iftikhar told a press conference, urging parties "not to drag the army into politics".

Khan insists he has been the victim of a "regime change" conspiracy involving Washington and his opponents, and vowed to take his fight to the streets in the hope of forcing an early election.

On Wednesday night Khan told thousands of supporters that the new government was "imported", saying Pakistan needed to forge an independent global path.

He has said Washington wanted him removed because he refused to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and because of his close links to China.

Washington, Moscow and Beijing have all congratulated Sharif since he took over.