Abbasi to break ice with Army

Family links to Pakistan’s powerful military and a Cabinet stint championing the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will probably help new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi navigate thorny relations with the Army and curb rolling blackouts.

How Mr Abbasi, the cofounder of a budget airline and a skydiving fan, tackles those two issues may define his tenure as he seeks to tilt the next general election, due in mid-2018, towards the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

Ousted leader Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court last month

With Mr Abbasi, 58, now likely to stay on until the election, the opposition is training its crosshairs on him while voters seek clues as to what he can accomplish in less than a year.

US-educated Abbasi has been frank about Mr Sharif’s role as the power behind the throne but those close to him expect a slightly different approach to the Army.

“He is going to repair the relationship and have a better communication channel to the Army than Nawaz,” said a senior PML-N official.

PML-N politicians say Mr Abbasi’s family ties to the military — his father was an Air Force commodore while his fatherin-law headed the InterService Intelligence (ISI) military spy agency — will make him more palatable to the Army. After his first meeting with the Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday, Mr Abbasi said, “The entire nation is proud of the sacrifices rendered by security personnel in ridding the motherland from the menace of terrorism.”