Pakistan today elected Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as its new interim prime minister after he bagged 221 votes, reported the Dawn.
The ruling PML-N has nominated Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as its candidate for the top post after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court over the panama case.
Abbasi, who had been serving as minister of Petroleum and Natural resources, however, will vacate the position for Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif after the Punjab Chief Minister is elected to the National Assembly.
Here is all you need to know about Abbasi:
Hailing from a military family, his father Khaqan Abbasi was an Air Commodore in Pakistan Air Force. His father later entered politics and rose to become the Minister of production. Abbasi first entered politics after his father’s demise. His father-in-law General Muhammad Riaz Abbasi was the Director General of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI). His sister Sadia Abbasi has also been a member in Senate of Pakistan.
In 1988, he fought as an independent candidate and won from Rawalpindi. In 1990, he was reelected to the National Assembly and was made Parliamentary Secretary for Defence. In his third term, he contested from PML-N, and was made the chairman of Standing Committee of National Assembly on Defence.
Abbasi held important positions in the second term of Nawaz Sharif where he was Chairman of Pakistan International Airlines from 1997. He was also Minister of Commerce and Minister of Defense Production under Yousuf Raza Gillani.
Born on December 27, 1958 in Karachi, Abbasi did his schooling there and later moved to Rawalpind to join the Lawrence College in Murree. A graduate in electrical engineering from George Washington University, he has worked in the US and Saudi Arabia.
He has three children.
