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Groton Daily Independent
Monday, July 31, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 031 ~ 32 of 42
said Blackman was under extreme stress after heavy ghting and losing close comrades. He was released from prison in England earlier this year.
Pakistan: Ahead of PM vote, Islamabad crowds root for Khan By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s par- liament will meet Tuesday to elect a new prime minister after the disquali- cation of three-term prime minister Nawaz Sharif, as thousands gathered in the capital Islamabad Sunday to voice support for opposition leader Imran Khan.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party, which enjoys a comfortable ma- jority in parliament, nominated Sharif’s longtime loyalist Shahid Khaqan Ab- basi for the top slot on Saturday. Sharif proposed Abbasi as interim prime min- ister until his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is the chief minister of Punjab province, can contend in a by-election for the seat left vacant by his brother’s disquali cation.
Theoppositionisexpectedtoname acandidatetochallengeAbassiina vote in parliament, but the six-time lawmaker is expected to win.
A female supporter of opposition party Pakistan Teh- reek-e-Insafclapswhileshewithothersattendarallyin Islamabad,Pakistan,Sunday,July30,2017.Thousandsof supporters of opposition party Tehreek-e-Insaf rallied in the Pakistani capital Islamabad to celebrate the removal ofPrimeMinisterNawazSharif.(APPhoto/AnjumNaveed)
Sharif’spartyholds188of342seats
in parliament’s lower house and with
additional votes from its allies is expected to obtain 214 votes. To win the top slot, Abbasi needs only 172 votes.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court disquali ed Sharif from of ce on Friday for not being honest and concealing assets. The probe against him began after his children were named in the leaked so-called Panama papers for owning off-shore accounts and properties.
Sharif’s party has resolved to le a review petition in the Supreme Court to reverse the disquali cation.
The probe was triggered by petitions led by the conservative Jamaat-e-Islami party and cricket player- turned-politician Imran Khan.
Celebrating the Supreme Court verdict of ousting Sharif from premiership, Khan said Sunday in Islamabad that the court verdict has given the nation hope and “laid the foundation for a new Pakistan”.
Thousands of Khan’s jubilant supporters, chanting slogans and dancing to drum beats at a vast arena, raised placards reading ‘Prime Minister Imran Khan’.
Addressing the crowd, Khan said: “This nation is awakening now and determined to make Pakistan a great country free of corruption.”
Sharif has had a history of rocky relations with Pakistan’s powerful military and he has been removed from of ce three times.
He was rst elected as prime minister in 1990 and was hardly half way through his ve-year tenure when he was removed from of ce by the army’s hand-picked president in 1993. Sharif made a comeback in the 1997 elections but again his government was toppled by then-army chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf in