Maryam Nawaz sabotaged Nawaz's plan to make Ahsan Iqbal PM: sources

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had finalized the name of current interior minister Ahsan Iqbal as premier but Maryam Nawaz and Kulsoom Nawaz sabotaged the plan and preferred Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s name to lead the parliament, sources told ARY News.

According to ARY News anchor Sami Ibrahim, some sources told him that Nawaz Sharif’s first choice was Ahsan Iqbal but Maryam Nawaz and Kulsoom Nawaz‘s decision prevailed and landed Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in PM house.

In July, a five-judge Supreme Court bench disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a unanimous verdict in the Panamagate case, thus cutting short his third stint in power.

Hours after the judgment, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified Nawaz Sharif as a member of National Assembly from constituency NA-120, Lahore.

On August 1, a National Assembly session elected the party’s nominee Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the new prime minister of the country. A number of names were floated and rumors were doing rounds that Ahsan Iqbal or Khawaja Asif too can be considered for the post but finally, Abbasi was selected by the party.

Ahsan Iqbal got interior ministry in Abbasi’s bloated cabinet afterward.