Pakistan’s disqualified 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 yesterday.
The announcement charts a way forward for Pakistan after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif Friday following an investigation into corruption allegations against him and his family, bringing to an end his historic third term in power.
“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 holds only a provincial seat, so must be elected to the national assembly before becoming the new prime minister.
Earlier yesterday the Election Commission of Pakistan confirmed fresh elections would be held in Nawaz Sharif’s former constituency. 
Abbasi is set to be elected as placeholder in a parliamentary vote, with Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz commanding a majority in the 342-seat house.
The opposition could also field a candidate for the premiership, though the nominee has little chance of getting sufficient votes.
The Supreme Court’s decision sent Sharif’s political opposition into the streets handing out sweets and beating drums in celebration.
But Pakistanis were divided on whether it set the country’s democratic progress back, with supporters, commentators and some corners of the country’s press slamming the ruling as a “judicial coup”.
The court said in its judgement 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. 
Opposition leader Imran Khan, who has spearheadead the push against Sharif, hailed the verdict as ushering in a new dawn for Pakistan.
Sharif’s link to the UAE company was exposed as part of an investigation into corruption allegations against his family that erupted as a result of the Panama Papers leak last year. 
The publication of 11.5mn secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting the offshore dealings of many of the world’s rich and powerful implicated three of Sharif’s four children – daughter Maryam and sons Hasan and Hussein.
l Nawaz Sharif to start mass-contact campaign 
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz information secretary Mushahidullah Khan says former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will soon embark upon a countrywide mass-contact campaign to take the people on board on the reasons behind successive attempts on his government.
After a consultative meeting of the party held in Islamabad, he said some people had suggested Sharif should begin the drive at once but a few mature souls advised against it so that no “negative impression” could be derived from it.
Referring to the Supreme Court verdict in the Panama case, he termed it a “defaced” form of the repealed constitutional Article 58-2(B) that had been used in the past to send packing multiple prime ministers.
Now, he said, coming prime ministers would feel it hard to rule the country knowing that they could be ousted on any “frivolous” charge.
He said a decision to bring replacement for Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Punjab after he is promoted as the prime minister as per party decision would be taken only after setting the central government issue as Punjab comes on second priority.
Meanwhile, Tehrik-i-Istiqlal president Rehmat Khan Wardag says the penalty of disqualification for life was astonishing for legal experts in a charge involving concealment of assets worth a couple of hundreds of thousands. 
The ultimate basis — concealment of assets — for disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sent jitters among politicians and political parties, especially the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, as its top tier faces different cases.
Background interviews with some PTI leaders show that the party fears for its almost entire top tier — Chairman Imran Khan, General Secretary Jehangir Khan Tareen and central Punjab president Aleem Khan.
“Both Khan and Tareen are already facing charges in the apex court and hearing in their cases are nearing conclusion,” says a member of the the chairman’s secretariat.
He said one should not be surprised if cases against people like Aleem Khan were reactivated.
His cases, some of them in NAB, have been dormant only because the PML-N governments, both at the federal and provincial levels, did not pursue them with required energy for political reasons.
“Now, with vengeance replacing caution, the PML-N will take everyone in the PTI to the court, putting both the PTI and the judiciary under pressure,” he apprehends.
The party, according to him, is aware of its vulnerable spots and possibilities have been discussed several times in the internal meetings, he revealed, saying “now the party may be getting ready to preempt.”
“If three top men (Imran Khan, Jehangir Tareen and Aleem Khan) keep facing cases, the party’s image is bound to suffer,” says a PTI MPA from Punjab.

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