Sacked PM Sharif’s brother to continue ‘political dynasty’
Sacked prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s sibling will be put forward for next year’s election, despite the family’s finances leading to PM’s downfall
Pakistan’s ruling party will nominate Punjab’s Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as prime minister before elections next year, after his older brother resigned from the post following a historic Supreme Court ruling on Friday that barred him from office.
Shahbaz Sharif, 65, will step down from his current position heading the province which is the family’s heartland and vote bank, to contest Nawaz Sharif’s vacated National Assembly seat, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said.
The party’s top leadership including elder Sharif proposed former Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as a 45-day interim premier, a decision that was endorsed by party lawmakers late last night.
The ruling party is moving fast to quell the political turmoil following Nawaz Sharif’s ousting, the second world leader to be felled by last year’s so-called Panama Papers leak.
The five-member Supreme Court bench gave its unanimous verdict to disqualify the premier after a corruption investigation found disparity between his family’s wealth and known sources of income.