>> the mayor of the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol says and estimated 21,000 civilians have been killed since the start of the war. ukraine's military is warning that russian troops will capture the devastated city soon. russia's president has defended the war as a noble mission that will achieve its goals. vladimir putin also said it is not possible to isolate his country after meeting one of his

closest allies, the belarusian president lukashenko. u.s. president joe biden has for the first time said that russia is carrying out a genocide in ukraine. he said this as a clarification for comments made a few hours earlier. biden had earlier called vladimir putin a war criminal, drawing strong response from moscow. >> the evidence is mounting. more evidence is coming out of the horrible things the russians have done in ukraine. we are going to only learn more and more about the devastation. we will let the lawyers decide internationally whether it qualifies but it sure seems that way to me. zubair: ukraine's -- >> ukraine's secret service has arrested an ally of vladimir putin. these images were released of the leader of the opposition

party in ukraine who had been facing a treason case. he was placed under house arrest last year and escaped in february. police in new york have identified a person of interest over tuesday's shootings in the subway. 62-year-old frank r james. a total of 16 people were injured. police in the u.k. have fined boris johnson for breaching covid-19 lockdown rules. chancellor ricci sooner -- rishi sunak will also face a penalty. the government breached restrictions on seven occasions. johnson has once again apologized but refuses to resign. the news continues after "inside story." ♪

folly: pakistan's new prime minister is promising to fix the economy and rebuild ties with allies. shehbaz sharif was elected after imran khan lost a no-confidence vote but can he overcome bitter political divisions and address domestic and foreign policy challenges? this is "inside story." hello and welcome to the program. shehbaz sharif has been sworn in as pakistan's new prime minister. the former opposition leader is succeeding imran khan who was removed from office in a no-confidence vote. sharif will form a temporary

government until a general election can be held sometime next year. while he settles into his new office, tens of thousands of imran khan supporters are protesting against his removal. more than 100 mp's from his party have also resigned in protest. we will get to our discussion in the moment but first this report from islamabad. zubair: -- reporter: after several weeks of uncertainty and what was looking like a political thriller, pakistan has a new prime minister. mr. shehbaz sharif was sworn in monday evening. it is important to note that pakistan -- the party decided to resign en masse from that body saying sharif has corruption charges against him and this was on except a bowl and they will not continue in parliament.

imran khan had already appealed to his people to come out sunday night across the country. tens of thousands of people came out in what is seen as an endorsement of imran khan's stance that there was a conspiracy to bring down his government through a vote of no-confidence. the new party that is in power, and of course this is an assortment, an alliance of nine political parties that have been able to unite on a single agenda throughout -- will be wanting to hold electoral reforms, something imran khan's party did not agree with. it seems this new government in islamabad may not be ready for an early election. folly: the incoming

administration will need to navigate multiple domestic and foreign challenges. inflation is more than 12% and pakistan's foreign debt is at $130 billion, 43% of gdp. attacks by armed groups have been on the rise and talks between the government and pakistani taliban have failed. it will meet to improve relations with the west which were damaged when imran khan accused washington of conspiring to topple him. there is also the kashmir dispute with india, security in afghanistan, and the government will need to oversee growing chinese investment. let's hear what some pakistanis had to say about their new leader and the economy. >> people do not care who's government it is, whether it is pti, people's party, or muslim league. all they want is progress in this country. the main issue is that inflation should be brought down so the poor man can survive. the middle class suffers most.

the white color person gets hit most by inflation because he has to manage things in such a way he can keep up appearances. whoever comes into power should be able to control prices, industry should thrive, there should be overall progress. >> we have hopes for shehbaz sharif. he is a good leader and we hope he will be a good leader for the poor masses. then the country will progress. folly: let us now bring in our guests, all of whom are joining us from islamabad. zulfikar bukhari was a former assistant to former prime minister imran khan. maria iqbal tarana is the general secretary of the human rights wing of pakistan peoples party and zubair iqbal is a political analyst and pro-rector at the national university of modern languages. thank you all for being with us. can prime minister shehbaz sharif govern pakistan

effectively when there is so much widespread support for imran khan from millions of pakistani, especially young pakistani the alco those who say he does not have the mandate to govern. what do you say? >> we must not forget how easy it is to manipulate young minds. pakistan's population -- today youth is not being engaged with you or me or anybody else. they are being engaged with the phones. it is very easy for anyone to manipulate or to install their own agenda through this new social media and what we believe in this time has happened, when pti came into the government in

2018, after that, it has been almost four years, they use all the government resources to manipulate, to hijack and install their own agendas. this is what we see today because young people are just not ready to understand the constitution of pakistan and what is involved is a democracy. whatever has happened the last few days, nothing is constitutional. of course a no-confidence vote -- i come from a party, the pakistan peoples party, and everyone knows pakistan was only 20 years old and the pakistan peoples party came into being. when pakistan was 25 years old, so five years old, the pakistan peoples party gave pakistan a complete constitution which is our responsibility as a young

people to implement and to stand by. folly: the young people who have come out in support are being minute belated. what do you respond? >> i think what my colleague is trying to say is that pakistan peoples party and the government in charge at the moment does not have any support from the youth or the masses. i think her synopsis, what she is trying to build up is basically saying that nobody has come out for them. the youth is not behind them. the public mandate is still with the x prime minister. she talks about pakistan peoples party doing so much. the chairman is still -- if you look at his perch will -- personal constituencies, it is one of the most backward

constituencies in the country. their grandfather, father, mother himself have been ruling for decades and have not been able to get any progress to their own personal constituency, let alone the country. i think you hit the nail on the head when you started with that he may have got the no-confidence vote in the national assembly by making everyone against one man, imran khan. however, do they have the moral authority? do they have the public mandate? if they do, the simple question is, why wouldn't any prime minister who has come in now -- there is no one on the road rejoicing. there is no one on the streets celebrating. so why wouldn't the prime minister -- which prime minister with any moral authority would not want to go to elections immediately and show his own countrymen he can have the mandate? folly: if the opposition once to

get this government honest, why walk out? -- wants to keep this government honest, why walk out? >> let me put it like this. we have been in government for three and a half to four years. when the commodity index prices inflation was through the roof, worldwide it was skyhigh, yet the pdm movement could not gather themselves to remove and topple our government. what has happened in the last 30 to 60 days where this magical glue has brought them together to topple the government when the next government's narrative is skyhigh? what magic glue or magic conspiracy came in that got them all together to topple it when they were not even at their lowest? when our government was at its lowest in terms of opinion polls

, they still could not manage to do it. while we are not participating and resigning from the assembly is simple because we feel it is an illegitimate government. us sitting at assemblies with foreign intervention will legitimize an illegitimate government. folly: you talk about foreign intervention accusing the u.s. and so on. that has not been proven. i will come back to that but i want to bring in zubair iqbal into the conversation and maria i will allow you to respond. mr. iqbal, imran khan commands a large audience especially among young people. we have seen millions take to the streets in recent days and even among members of the military, young numbers of the military. doesn't matter what he does next ? if these protests continue, are we likely to see the military stepped in as it have in the

past -- has in the past? >> the military has a constitutional role to play. they have made it clear they are not interfering into the political process. if i can recall the statement a few days ago, it is a matter of constitutional process. there have been accusations by the new prime minister, mr. shehbaz sharif has pointed out in his first speech we are going to make a commission, parliamentary security commission. he was bold enough to say that even if an iota of indication is coming relating to the foreign hand, he said he was ready to resign at that point. we must all understand this was a democratic process and if you count the number of votes, it

was the allied parties, previously the pti, they have joined hands with the opposition parties, and the pakistan peoples party. it is only those parties. the so-called members of the pakistan -- who were not considering their policies in the correct way, it is a democratic process. prime minister shehbaz sharif has said we are not going to go against any vendetta, so if imran khan and his party continues -- considers they should come out on the street, it is their democratic right. if it is under the law of the land, they must gather and raise their voice. if they are able to muster that support and destabilize the government and push them to the new elections, so be it. for the moment we must all

except the democratic process and the law of the land. folly: maria, let's talk about the first big challenge for this new prime minister and his new government. that is the economy, the imf program has been suspended. the country is facing enormous deficit on the fiscal side. how will he steer the country, prime minister sharif? well the economy take a different direction from under imran khan? maria: that is what i wanted to reply. my colleague said it is a time for celebration so why is nobody supporting shehbaz sharif. celebration time is over. no one is dancing on the roads anywhere. the charismatic hansen prime minister and all that, this is very outdated terms -- hand some prime minister and all that, this is very outdated terms. it is not a movie. we are not seeking for any drama in this country.

we have to be serious about how we can move forward. folly: let's move forward the conversation then. let's try and move forward the conversation. you will disagree on this. how do we address the biggest challenge right now which is the economy? how does the new prime minister go about that? maria: yes of course, the new prime minister has his own policies. he has taken a vote now. parliamentary commissions will be formed for the economy and i'm sure that will be in favor of pakistan because he previously was serving as -- it is the biggest province and has contributed a lot in pakistan's economy as well. i'm sure they have their own policies which we will see in the coming days. at the moment we think not only

economically, but foreign policy is also a disaster. whatever disaster the previous government has left, it is the biggest challenge for the people who have just taken office yesterday and it is the biggest challenge for the pakistan peoples party and allies because it is a huge responsibility. the stomachs are full, bank accounts are full. they have nothing to do with the common person. in pakistan it is very different. you have to be a person who understands the constitution. folly: let us allow mr. bukhari to respond. we have a new prime minister in place. the protests, i don't know if you -- what you feel they are going to achieve, but isn't it in the benefit of all pakistanis to move forward and address this issue propping up the economy?

what would you hope the new prime minister would prioritize? zulfikar: the new prime minister has his hands full. he is coming in on an international conspiracy mandate which you said we have not proven. i want to clarify that. that is incorrect. folly: tell us how this has happened. zulfikar: the national security council was called. it has all three chiefs. the navy, the army, and the air force chief. the opposition leaders at the time who are now in power were all invited to that counsel, to the national security council. they all refused to come. all three serving arms chiefs signed off that they feel there was intervention and that the words and notes used in the meeting held in washington were unacceptable, hence the foreign office has written back of talking about a regime change

and not willing to work with imran khan. but if the government is removed, all of pakistan's faults would be omitted. this is something where all three chiefs have signed off and it has gone to the supreme court, it has gone to the national speaker. because it is a confidential letter, there are certain rules and requirements that need to go about. they did not want to see it. they wanted to make sure they avoided it. i am glad they are in power now and they can go through it. if they can find a way of making it public, it should be made public. to say that it is false is wrong because it has gone through the highest level of security council with everybody sitting there. and i repeat, the opposition who is leading now refused to turn it for that meeting. the people we see on the roads not only in pakistan but in qatar, the uae, are people who

are not accepting them. when we talk about a democratic movement, it is not. this is an alliance of people who are either on bail or have run away as convicted criminals sitting in london. his brother is now the prime minister who is on bail himself at the moment. the leader of pakistan peoples party himself is internationally known as a criminal. so understand what this alliance is. it is not democratic. folly: maria, let's put that to you. these alliances have been historically at loggerheads with competing interests. how are they going to stay united until elections? respond to what we have just heard. maria: of course when the movement started back in september 2020, there was a signed charter which said that we will enforce and implement constitution, we will make

parliament status -- we believe in freedom of speech, expression, and assembly, we believe that a democratic government, we believe in the sovereignty of provisional governments that will protect the rights of peoples of pakistan. we will protect foreign policy, economic policy, and we will respect our armed forces as well. so in this government, we thought they made every institute so controversial that this is the biggest challenge which we see as a political worker that in the coming days we have to start from zero. in three and a half years of time when they were there, all they did was accuse the opposition. now the opposition has taken over. people are very happy. we see whoever understands pakistan and the government who

have presented people previously -- they know they believe in them and i am sure in the coming days if you called somebody from pakistan, you will see the clear picture of pakistan, how pakistan has been going. we saw a stock index position with the value of rupees has gone up. we need to respect that. in one days time there are so many things that have been happening. it is a navy government. folly: let me bring in zubair iqbal. i am sorry for keeping you away for some time now. let me bring you back into the conversation. we have heard that the u.s. was behind this effort to push imran khan out. even if his party had good relations with washington at some point. how much damage has that done to relations with the u.s. and how difficult will it be for the new prime minister to mend?

zubair: some damage might have been done because if you are getting into domestic politics, international players, and i must say this is a very dangerous line the government has toed, it will be difficult for this government and the next election, whenever the future elections are held, it will be very difficult for them to handle. as for allegations on politicians, let me say almost everybody is against them. so is the case with the leadership in the country. i am not getting into the blame game here. the point is the pakistani situation is very precarious as has been pointed out.

there are foreign-exchange problems, inflation, the common man particularly hit by covid and all the economic meltdown in pakistan has literally broken their backs. it is time to get together. it is time to get stability. it is time to get out of historical things. it is time to steer things how they are for the betterment of the people. if they are saying whatever they want to say, there is freedom of expression. they must have all the right to say it but the government has come out of the opposition now and now it is their responsibility to do what they have to do. but the economic house in order. some indications my colleague has pointed out, it is not too easy to jump on early inclusions because it is very early days. it is a very difficult way to go ahead in pakistan. i would not say it is crisis

like. the foreign exchange rate is very alarming. let me say that some of the policies adopted by the former government, they were not advisable, hence the frame of not more than four years. nothing has been done which is not advisable, hence the economic conditions got out of hand and everybody accepted the leadership in punjab. even now they are accepting for the pamir ship of punjab. -- premiership of punjab. punjab is more than 60% of pakistan in terms of population so if you are not delivering in punjab you are not delivering in pakistan. some soul-searching should go into the previous government. they may claim they have been not dealt an even hand but they must look at something when they come back to power.

they should not repeat those mistakes of the last four years or so. folly: i wish we had more time because there is a lot to discuss. thank you for joining us. zulfikar bukhari, maria iqbal tarana, and zubair iqbal. thank you. you can visit our website on al jazeera.com. for further discussion, go to our website. -- our facebook. from me in doha, thinks for watching. -- thanks for watching. bye for now. ♪ xcñwúúo o @8@8@8ç■ç■ñçñqñqñqñqñw

? robert f. kennedy: racial injustice and poverty, ignorancand concn foworld peace d chicagand los angeles, as wl asn the tos and the farmlas of misssippi during thatime, i spokto goverr barnett probab 25 times. wanted the marsha toraw their ns. yoasked for e fact - [announcer]: major funding for reel south was provided by: etv endowment, the national endowment for the arts, center for asian-american media,