Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, elected as Pakistan’s new prime minister in 2017, after three-time premier Nawaz Sharif was ousted by the Supreme Court.

He was born on 27 December 1958 in Karachi. Abbasi was educated at Lawrence College, Murree. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Abbasi worked in the US and Saudi Arabia as an electrical engineer before joining politics after his father, a minister in General Zia ul-Haq’s government, was killed when an ammunition depot in Rawalpindi in 1988.

Prior to entering politics, he worked as a professional engineer in various projects in the United States and the Middle East.

Considered highly intelligent and a long-time Sharif loyalist, the 58-year-old is the former federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, and a businessman who launched the country’s most successful private airline.

Abbasi was appointed oil minister when former premier Sharif won his third term in 2013.

Educated in the United States at George Washington University, Abbasi remained a member of the National Assembly for Murree — a hill station in northern Punjab that is a favourite holiday destination for Sharif.

Abbasi has been elected six times as a member of the National Assembly since then, and has previously served as minister for commerce and defence production.

He was the chairman of national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from 1997 to 1999, until General Pervez Musharraf seized power, overthrowing Sharif’s second government.

See Also: Shah Mehmood Qureshi – Age, Political Party, Family and Net worth

Abbasi was arrested after the coup and imprisoned for two years before being released.

In 2003, he setup an airline, Air Blue, the country’s most successful private airline and challenger to PIA.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi – Age, Political party, family and Education