Prime Minister of Pakistan

Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan (since Aug 17, 2018)

Born 5 October 1952, is a Pakistani politician and former cricketer who is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is also the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Previously he was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2002 to 2007, and again from 2013 to 2018. Prior to entering politics, Khan was a cricketer and philanthropist. He played international cricket for two decades, and later developed philanthropic projects such as the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre and Namal College.

Khan was born to an upper-middle class Pashtun family in Lahore, Punjab, in 1952; he was educated at Aitchison College in Lahore, then the Royal Grammar School Worcester in Worcester, England, and later at Keble College, Oxford. He started playing cricket at the age of 13. Initially playing for his college and later for Worcestershire, Khan made his debut for the Pakistan national cricket team at the age of 18, during the 1971 series against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. After graduating from Oxford, he made his home debut for Pakistan in 1976, and played until 1992. He also served as the team’s captain intermittently between 1982 and 1992. Notably, he led Pakistan to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, Pakistan’s first and only victory in that competition.

Khan retired from cricket in 1992, as one of Pakistan’s most successful players. In total he made 3,807 runs and took 362 wickets in Test cricket, and is one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an ‘All-rounder’s Triple’ in Test matches. He was later, in 2010, inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. In 1991, he launched a fundraising campaign to set up a cancer hospital in memory of his mother. He raised $25 million to set up a hospital in Lahore in 1994, and later in 2015 a second hospital in Peshawar. Khan remains a prominent philanthropist and commentator, and served as the chancellor of Bradford University between 2005 and 2014 and was the recipient of an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians in 2012.

In April 1996, Khan founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (lit: Pakistan Movement for Justice), a centrist political party, and became the party’s national leader. Khan contested for a seat in the National Assembly in October 2002 and served as an opposition member from Mianwali until 2007. He was again elected to the parliament in the 2013 elections, when his party emerged as the second largest in the country by popular vote. Khan served as the parliamentary leader of the party and led the third-largest block of parliamentarians in the National Assembly from 2013 to 2018. His party also led a coalition government in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the 2018 general elections, his party won the largest number of seats and defeated the ruling PML-N, bringing Khan to premiership and the PTI into federal government for the first time.

Khan remains a popular public figure and is the author of, among other publications, Pakistan: A Personal History

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Former Interim Prime Minister of Pakistan (since Aug 1, 2017)

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (born 27 December 1958) is a Pakistani politician who is the interim Prime Minister-designate of Pakistan. A member of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Abbasi previously served as the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources in the third Sharif’s ministry from 2013 to 2017 and briefly held the cabinet portfolio of Minister for Commerce in the Gillani ministry in 2008.

Abbasi has been an elected Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since 1988, representing Rawalpindi. He is the owner of Airblue; and previously served as Chairman of Pakistan International Airlines from 1997 to 1999 during the second Sharif’s ministry.

Abbasi is an engineer by profession. After graduating from the George Washington University, Abbasi worked as professional engineer in 1980s for the various projects in the United States before moving to Saudi Arabia to perform engineering works for various energy projects in Saudi oil industry.

In 2003, Abbasi founded Airblue Limited where he served as its first chairman until 2007. Later he became chief operating officer of the airline. Reportedly, Abbasi is the owner of the airline but he denies it saying that he had no shareholding in Airblue Limited and had not visited its office for over two years.

Abbasi is married and has three sons. His surname Abbasi is also the name of his clan, which is predominant in northern Punjab.

Abbasi’s only brother, Zahid Abbasi, was injured in Ojhri Camp incident after which he went into coma and died in 2005 after remaining bedridden for 17 years.

Abbasi’s sister Sadia Abbasi had been a member of the Senate of Pakistan.

Abbasi’s father-in-law, General Muhammad Riaz Abbasi was the Director General of Inter Services Intelligence from 1977 to 1979.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahid_Khaqan_Abbasi