Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

[27] Abbasi ran for a National Assembly seat as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) and was re-elected for the third time from Constituency NA-36 (Rawalpindi-I).

[26] New parliamentary elections were called for 3 February 1997,[27] and Abbasi successfully retained his National Assembly seat as a candidate of the PML-N from Constituency NA-36 (Rawalpindi-I) for the fourth time.

[35] His tenure as the Chairman of PIA was terminated following the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état, during which then-Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf overthrew Sharif and his existing elected government.

[61] Abbasi was reported to have held the cabinet portfolio of Defence Production during his short-lived tenure as Commerce Minister,[14][62][63] a claim later proved to be untrue.

[53] Upon the victory of PML-N in the 2013 national election, he was inducted into the federal cabinet as the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources[67] and was given the task of ending the Pakistan's electricity crisis.

220 billion between the period of 2013 and 2015 for the import and distribution of LNG without a proper bidding process, after which the National Accountability Bureau registered a case and began an investigation.

[77] Abbasi ceased to hold the ministerial office of Petroleum and Natural Resources on 28 July 2017 when the cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disbanded following his disqualification by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Panama Papers case decision.

[83][84] According to BBC Urdu, Abbasi had not become a part of any major political or financial controversy throughout his time in a ministerial office which is considered a high-profile cabinet slot.

[89] On 1 August 2017, Abbasi was elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan by the National Assembly, defeating his rival Naveed Qamar of the PPP by 221 votes to 47.

[96] According to Rana Sanaullah Khan, PML-N senior leadership feared that if Shahbaz Sharif left the post of Chief Ministership of Punjab it would weaken the party's hold in the country's most populous province,[97][98][99][100] which has 183 out of the 342 seats in the National Assembly[101] and plays a crucial role in determining the successive government in Pakistan.

[117] Abbasi justified the large size of his cabinet by saying that "he had limited experience of running the affairs of the government, and therefore required more ministers, advisers and special assistants.

[120] Abbasi appointed Khawaja Muhammad Asif as a full-time Minister for Foreign Affairs, the first since PML-N came into power in the 2013 general election.

In his first speech as prime minister, Abbasi announced that security, tax reform, agriculture, education, health services, infrastructure and development projects, and the country's power crisis would be his top concerns.

[91] He vowed to continue the policies of his predecessor, Nawaz Sharif, calling him the "people's prime minister" from the floor of the National Assembly.

[139] After assuming the office of prime minister, Abbasi focus remained on energy sector[137] and he took keen interest in the promotion of the LNG.

[142][143] He directed the ministry to utilise the maximum usage of coal reserves from the Thar coalfield[141] and promised to end power outages in the country by November 2017.

He also ordered revamping of the transmission and distribution system and directed to find a permanent solution to Pakistan's chronic circular debt issue.

[149][150] Immediately after taking office, Abbasi made himself the head of major cabinet committees dealing with economic matters, including those that fall under the domain of Finance Minister, to consolidate more power and to get a grip on financial issues.

[137] On 26 August, Abbasi approved the results of the 2017 Census of Pakistan with a total population of the country excluding of that of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir at 207.77 million.

[155] But after China expressed reservations,[156][157] Abbasi on 16 September assigned the portfolio back to incumbent interior minister Ahsan Iqbal who headed the Ministry of Planning and Development in the previous cabinet.

[158] The first 30 days of Abbasi in the office suggested that he would prefer an "as-usual routine"[137] contrary to the expectations of the business community and the bureaucracy which had initially hoped for policy changes that would attempt to resolve the outstanding issues the country was facing.

[163] In November 2017, Abbasi took charge of the Ministry of Finance on an ad interim basis[164] after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar went to the United Kingdom for a medical checkup in late October amid his arrest warrant in a corruption case for having wealth beyond his known sources of income,[165] On 24 November, Ishaq Dar stepped down from the ministerial office after taking medical leave.

[186] On 23 January, Abbasi in an interview with Reuters confirmed his government plans to seize control of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, both run by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

[190] On 23 August, Abbasi chaired a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) which rejected the allegations made by Trump and call the new US policy an attempt “to scapegoat Pakistan”.

[193] On 30 August, the Trump administration announced withholding US$255 million in military financial assistance to Pakistan until the latter do more to clamp down on terrorist groups operating inside the country.

[199] On 18 October 2017, US Vice-president Pence telephoned Abbasi to thank the government of Pakistan for the safe recovery of the Canadian-American couple Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman.

[200] On 24 October, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made his maiden visit to Pakistan to normalise the bilateral ties which became strained over remarks of Trump in August.

[209] The next day, Abbasi chaired a meeting of the NSC which expressed disappointment over Trump remarks[210] and observed that Pakistan cannot be held responsible for US failure in Afghanistan.

[235] Abbasi was on his way to attend a press conference, accompanied by PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal and spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, when he was arrested on the Thokar Niaz Baig interchange on 18 July 2019.

He entered politics and became a Member of the National Assembly[20] and was inducted as the Federal Minister for Production in the cabinet of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, until his death in 1988 at Ojhri Camp in a military accident that resulted in more than 100 casualties.

Abbasi with members of his cabinet and the Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa
Abassi hosting Secretary Tillerson in Islamabad in October 2017