UPDATES WITH BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON NEW PAKISTANI PREMIER
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Lawmakers voted Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the former petroleum minister, prime minister on Tuesday following last week’s resignation of Nawaz Sharif.
Abbasi, a close ally of Sharif, is expected to hold the post for 45 days until the ex-premier’s brother Shehbaz Sharif is voted to the National Assembly and replaces him.
The lower house, which is dominated by lawmakers from Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), selected Abbasi by 221 votes of 305 votes cast.
The Pakistan Peoples Party candidate was runner-up with 47 votes, Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq announced. Abbasi is expected to be sworn in later Tuesday.
In televised scenes, Sharif supporters and PML-N lawmakers chanted slogans in support of the former prime minister, who stood down after the Supreme Court disqualified him on Friday for dishonesty.
It ruled that corruption cases should be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal.
Hundreds of emotional supporters ignored requests from the speaker to maintain order as they shouted and waved placards plastered with Sharif’s face.
“I am thankful to the people’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who named me for this post,” Abbasi said in an address to parliament.
“The people of Pakistan have not accepted the Supreme Court’s judgement but the government still implemented that.”
– New premier faces inquiry
Abbasi, who has been a member of the National Assembly since 1988, will be replaced by Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently the chief minister of Punjab province. He has already been named as the man who will lead the country until June next year.
The new premier and the younger Sharif also face the possibility of disqualification in pending cases against them.
An inquiry into a 220 billion Pakistani rupee ($2.09 billion) liquefied natural gas contract could ensnare Abbasi. The anti-corruption case focuses on the awarding of a contract to import the gas from Qatar. Abbasi has said he is not worried about the inquiry.
Shehbaz Sharif is a co-accused in a corruption case against the Sharif family. Although the case was quashed by the Lahore High Court years ago, anti-corruption investigators have been told to appeal.
Abbasi was born on Dec. 27, 1958, in northeastern Rawalpindi division of the country. His father Khaqan Abbasi was an officer in Pakistani air force who later became a parliamentarian and also served as federal minister.
The new prime minister has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University in the U.S.
He began his political career in 1988 following the death of his father. He has been consistently re-elected from his Rawalpindi constituency in all general elections held since 1990.
When Gen. Pervez Musharraf toppled Sharif’s government in a bloodless coup in 1999, Abbasi was arrested and sent to jail where he remained for two years.
During his second term as premier, Sharif had appointed Abbasi as chairman of the state flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines. He has also served as defense production minister for a short tenure and until recently he held the portfolio of petroleum and natural resources in the Cabinet until Sharif was disqualified following Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case.
*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this report from Islamabad, Pakistan.
