Former Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Credit: X/@SKhaqanAbbasi
Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday formed a new political party named Awaam Pakistan after parting ways with the ruling PML-N due to the differences with the party’s way of politics.
Abbasi, who served as the prime minister from August 2017 to May 2018, was joined by former finance minister Miftah Ismail who also parted ways with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The slogan of the new political entity is ‘badlien gaen nizam’ (we will change the system). The party would be formally launched on July 6 or 7, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
A video shared on Awaam Pakistan's official X handle featured disheartened citizens addressing national issues such as inflation, energy shortages, corruption, unemployment, and educational disparities.
Abbasi, 65, has been appointed as head of the organising committee, while Ismail has been initially named as his deputy.
The organising committee also includes former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governor and PML-N leader Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, former PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi and former Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Sheikh Salahuddin.
The founding members include former PML-N lawmaker from Faisalabad Rana Zahid Tauseef, former PTI health minister Zafar Mirza, former PML-N provincial lawmaker Zaeem Qadri, Hazara region activist Fatima Atif, Sindhi nationalist leader Anwar Soomro, legal expert Moiz Jaferi and educationist Tariq Banuri.
Abbasi served as prime minister from August 2017 to May 2018 until PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court.
He belongs to the Murree area of Rawalpindi, which is a famous hill resort frequented by tourists in summer to seek relief from scorching heat and in winter to enjoy snowfall.
He is a businessman whose family owned the country’s AirBlue airline. He entered politics in 1988 when he was elected as a member of the National Assembly for the first time.
He was elected at least six times on the PML-N ticket and was considered close to Nawaz Sharif and also served as a federal minister.
Abbasi and Ismail, who served as ministers in his cabinet, left the PML-N due to policy disagreements and initiated discussions nationwide in 2023 under the banner 'Reimagining Pakistan' to pay ground for a new party.
He in many discussions and seminars has been insisting that only a new political party with the will to change the current system can pull the cash-strapped country out of crisis.