Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (Born 27 December 1958 ) is a Pakistani entrepreneur, electrical engineer, currently serving Federal Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources of Pakistan and a politician. He served as the Federal Minister for Commerce in 2008.Abbasi is the Founder and CEO of Airblue. He also served as Chairman and CEO of Pakistan International Airlines from 1997 to 1999.
Education
Abbasi got his early education from Lawrence College, Murree. He then attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he obtained the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He went on to obtain Masters in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Abbasi worked as a professional engineer in the United States and the Middle East during the 1980s.
Politics in Pakistan
He is politically affiliated with the centre-right party PML-N, where he is a senior leader. He is the son of Air Commodore (retd) Khaqan Abbasi, a prominent businessman turned politician who was a pilot in the Pakistan Air Force and the Federal Minister for Industries and Production in General Zia-ul-Haq’s cabinet in the 1980s. Khaqan was a serving MNA and Federal Minister in Zia-ul-Haq’s cabinet when he died in the Ojhri Camp incident in 1988. His son Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has built the Murree-Kahuta and Kotli Sattian area as their political stronghold, he won the general elections in 1988, 1990, 1993, and 1997, the latest one being in 2008. From 1990 to 1993, he performed his duties as the chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence, In General Election 2013 he is again elected as member of National Assembly and appointed as Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
Imprisoned and Jail
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was imprisoned by the General Pervez Musharraf government, as he was the Chairman of the PIA, when Musharraf's plane was denied landing at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi on his way back from Sri Lanka on October 12, 1999. The government put pressure on him to give a testimony against the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but Abbasi refused. He was imprisoned for around two years before being acquitted of all charges in March 2001.
In the 2008 general elections, Shahid Abbasi was again elected a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from the traditional Abbasi constituency of NA-50 Rawalpindi-I (Murree-Kahuta area). He was then made the Federal Minister of Commerce in the Yousaf Raza Gillani cabinet.
