Sharif’s ousting divides Pakistan
Ex-PM names brother successor, Abbasi interim premier
ISLAMABAD, July 29, (AFP): Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif named his brother Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab province, as his successor and nominated ex-oil minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as an interim premier in a defiant speech Saturday.
The announcement charts a way forward for Pakistan after the Supreme Court deposed Sharif Friday following an investigation into corruption allegations against him and his family.
The ruling brought to an unceremonious end his historic third term in power and briefly plunged the country into political uncertainty.
“I support Shahbaz Sharif after me but he will take time to contest elections so for the time being I nominate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi,” Sharif said in a televised speech to his party.
The younger Sharif — who has so far been unscathed by the corruption allegations engulfing his brother’s family — holds only a provincial seat, so must be elected to the national assembly before becoming the new prime minister.
Earlier Saturday the Election Commission of Pakistan confirmed fresh elections would be held in Nawaz Sharif’s former constituency, in the family’s power base of Punjab province, in a process which could take up to 45 days.
Considered more intelligent but less charismatic than his older brother, Shahbaz Sharif has conatrolled Punjab — Pakistan’s most populous and prosperous province — for much of the last decade, presiding over a series of big ticket infrastructure projects.
Abbasi is set to be rubber-stamped as placeholder in a parliamentary vote, with Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) commanding a majority in the 342seat house. There was no immediate confirmation of when the vote would take place.
An electrical engineer and the businessman PANAMA CITY, July 29, (AFP): The disqualification on Friday of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from public office over long-running corruption allegations is the latest twist in the so-called Panama Papers scandal: What are the Panama papers? A trove of 11.5 million digital records from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that revealed how many of the world’s wealthy used offshore companies to stash assets.
Perpetrators range from simple businessmen to a head of state, via banks and sports stars.
The data were leaked to a German newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and reports appeared in major media from April 3, 2016.
Among those cited are former British Prime Minister David Cameron, Argentina’s football star Lionel Messi, Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri, Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and Hong Kong’s film star Jackie Chan — but also more than 140 politicians and public officials. What was the impact? In the immediate aftermath, Iceland’s
who launched Pakistan’s most successful private airline, Air Blue, Abbasi is considered a highlyintelligent Sharif loyalist who has been elected to the national assembly six times since 1988. The opposition could also field a candidate for the premiership, though the nominee has little chance of getting sufficient votes.
Nawaz Sharif became the 15th prime minister in Pakistan’s 70-year history — roughly half of which was under military rule — to be ousted before completing a full term.
In his televised speech to PML-N parliamentary members Saturday, he angrily denounced the ruling and prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was forced to resign after the leak showed his family sheltered assets offshore.
The Pakistani Supreme Court, disqualifying Sharif from office, also asked the national anti-corruption bureau to launch a further probe into the allegations against him, which stem from the Panama Papers linking the premier’s family to lucrative offshore businesses.
Many of the officials named in the Panama Papers have put forward legitimate reasons to explain their offshore presence and say they have not acted illegally.
In theory everyone has the right to create an offshore company, as long as they declare the profits.
However they are often denounced for being shady and in affairs of corruption they can be used to hide gains that they want to hide from the taxman.
In the year since the scandal erupted at least 150 inquiries or investigations have been launched in more than 70 countries, with authorities examining many cases for possible tax evasion or money laundering, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a US nonprofit group that until February hosted the now-independent ICIJ.
warned the country was “descending into chaos”.
“I have no regrets ... I will continue to fight for my vision of Pakistan,” he said.
The Supreme Court said in its judgement Friday that it was disqualifying Sharif for failing to disclose his monthly salary of 10,000 dirhams ($2,700) from a company owned by his son in the United Arab Emirates.
Sharif did not withdraw the salary, court documents show, but the five-member bench ruled his failure to disclose its existence meant he was not “honest” — a requirement for Pakistani politicians under the country’s Constitution.