ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Tuesday backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) designated candidate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for the post of prime minister of Pakistan, who would serve as 28th elected Prime Minister of the country.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was designated for the post as interim prime minister by the PML-N leadership.
Out of the twenty-seven prime ministers who served the country since 1947, twenty-two were elected by the National Assembly while five had served as caretakers.
After independence, country’s first prime minister was Liaquat Ali Khan who was appointed by the Governor General in 1947.
During the years 1951 to 1958, Khawaja Nazimuddin, Muhammad Ali Bogra, Chaudhry Mohammed Ali, Hussain Shaheed Suharwardy, Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar and Malik Firoz Khan Noon served in the office of prime minister of Pakistan.
The office of the chief executive of the country was abolished during December 20, 1971 to August 14, 1973.
After a year, seven months and 25 days, former president Yahya Khan, appointed Nurul Amin as 8th prime minister in 1971.
Under new constitution of 1973, the post was recreated and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became prime minister on August 14, 1973.
The post was again abolished during July 5, 1977 to March 24 1985 (for about 8 years) after late general Zia Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq became the chief martial law administrator.
Muhammad Khan Junejo served as the tenth elected prime minister on the basis of non-party based elections in 1985.
But the post was again held in abeyance during May 29, 1988 to December 2, 1988.
Then, Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto became the first woman prime minister of Pakistan in the general elections of 1988 followed by Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in 1990.
Both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif each held the position for two non-consecutive terms between 1988 and 1999.
Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Shaukat Aziz, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also served during the period till 2013.
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif also became the thrice elected prime minister in the general elections during June 2013 and became the longest serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan.
Mian Muhammad Soomor served as the longest time serving caretaker prime minister whereas Balakh Sher Mazari as the shortest serving caretaker.
Moin Qureshi, Malik Miraj Khalid and Hazar Khan Khoso also served as caretaker prime ministers.
