Shahid Abbasi becomes Interim Prime Minister of Pakistan!!

Shahid Abbasi becomes Interim Prime Minister of Pakistan!!

Shahid Abbasi to be interim Pakistan PM, will later hand over reins to Nawaz Sharif's brother Shahbaz

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will take over from ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in an interim capacity. The 58-year-old Abbasi's name was arrived upon during a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).

The meeting was chaired by Sharif, who had to step down from the post of prime minister after the Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified him from office after finding that he lied about his assets.

Speaking after the meeting, Nawaz Sharif that his brother Shahbaz Sharif will eventually succeed him in office. However, Shahbaz cannot become prime minister right away as he is not a member of Pakistan's parliament. And so, Abbasi, until recently the petroleum minister in Nawaz Sharif's cabinet, will hold fort, serving as prime minister for 45 days after which Shahbaz is expected to take over.

According to Pakistani media, Shahbaz is expected to contest for parliament from Nawaz Sharif's now-vacant seat, which is a PML-N stronghold. Once in parliament, Shahbaz can easily become PM thanks to the PML-N's strong majority which will allow the party to elect him into office on its own.

Shahbaz is currently the chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province and will have to quit that post to take over as prime minister.

In his first public comments since Friday's Supreme Court ruling, Nawaz Sharif said his "conscience is clear". He also stressed that the court did not prove any corruption or siphoning off public money after months of investigation stemming from the revelation in last year's Panama Papers leaks that his children were linked to offshore companies.

Sharif's dismissal has sparked uncertainty at a time when Pakistan was enjoying a rare period of relative stability, with militant attacks slowly declining and economic growth hitting its highest pace in a decade.