Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday named former Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim Prime Minister until his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif is elected as Member of Parliament to succeed him as the eventual successor.
“I support Shehbaz Sharif after me, but he will take time to contest elections so for the time being I nominate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi,” Sharif told his supporters.
The decision was taken in a meeting headed by Sharif and attended by the top party leaders who rallied behind the Sharifs, the country’s most powerful political family.
The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.
The court’s ruling abruptly ended Sharif’s third tenure as Prime Minister and forced the party’s top leadership to find his successor.
Sharif first proposed the two names for party’s formal approval.
“The Parliamentary Board approved the nomination by Sharif as mark of trust in him,” a party leader told PTI.
Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too.
During former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim Prime Minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim league Quaid-e-Azam (PMlQ).
Saturday’s meeting also decided to challenge Sharif’s disqualification through a review petition in the apex court.
Addressing the PMl-N’s Parliamentary meeting, Sharif expressed disbelief at the grounds for his dismissal and vowed to continue to struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution.
“I still do not understand the grounds for my dismissal...When I never took a salary, what would I declare,” he said, referring to the apex court’s ruling.
“When you take something, there’s a problem; when you don’t, there’s a problem,” he added.
“Is it only my family that should be held accountableIJ Is everyone else in this country sadiq and ameenIJ” Sharif said, and asked his political rivals to reveal their assets and sources of income.
Sharif claimed that he did not receive any kickbacks or commissions and said, “I am proud that I have not been declared ineligible over charges of corruption.”