Shahid Khaqan Abbasi elected as Pakistan Prime Minister

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is elected as the 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan, after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court over the Panama Papers scandal.

Abbasi got elected after getting 221 votes in the House of 342. Naveed Qamar of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got 47 votes, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf got 33 while Jamaat-e-Islami's Sahibzada Tariqullah managed just four votes.

"I am grateful to the members, the masses, and Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of the masses," Abbasi said after being elected. "I am even thankful to Imran Khan despite his party's mudslinging," he added.

Born on December 27, 1958 in Karachi, Abbasi received his early education from Karachi and later joined the Lawrence College in Murree of Rawalpindi.

He did his degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University.

He worked in the US for a few years before moving to Saudi Arabia to join oil and gas industry. He first entered politics after the death of his father Khaqan Abbasi, who was the Minister of Production. He fought as an Independent candidate and won from Rawalpindi in 1988, according to Dawn newspaper.

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified the 67-year-old Nawaz Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing him to resign.

OneIndia News