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ISLAMABAD � Pakistan's lawmakers will elect a new prime minister on Tuesday to replace ousted leader Nawaz Sharif, with ruling party stalwart Shahid Khaqan Abbasi expected to become interim leader until Sharif's own brother is eligible.

The confirmation from parliament came after Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain convened a special session after Sharif decided to put forward his ally Abbasi as interim leader and named his brother Shahbaz, 65, as long-term successor.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party holds a majority with 188 seats in the 342-member parliament, so it should be able to swiftly install its choice, barring any defections from its own ranks.

A quick handover could ease the political upheaval sparked by a Supreme Court decision on Friday to disqualify Sharif for not declaring a source of income. The court also ordered a criminal investigation into him and his family.

Abbasi on Sunday vowed to continue Sharif's work.

"I hope that God will help me in furthering Nawaz Sharif's policies," Abbasi told reporters in Islamabad, adding to speculation that Sharif will continue to run the show behind the scenes.

The turmoil and the premature end to Sharif's third stint in power has also raised questions about Pakistan's democracy. No prime minister has completed a full term in power since the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

"We wanted to make sure there is a smooth transfer of power and no constitutional crisis," said Miftah Ismail, a senior PML-N official and Sharif ally.

Succession Plan

On Sunday evening, thousands of supporters of opposition politician Imran Khan held a celebration rally in Islamabad, waving flags and cheering Sharif's ouster.

Khan, who spearheaded a campaign for the Supreme Court case that removed Sharif, has said he expects to win the next general elections in 2018.

Meanwhile, Sharif loyalists incensed by his ouster cheered his arrival in the hill town of Murree.

Sharif has lashed out against the court's decision and opponents who used the Supreme Court to topple him. He has vowed his party would continue to focus on development, touting a faster-growing economy as proof of his success.

"Wheel of development is moving and may God keep it rolling and may it never stop," he told members of PML-N on Saturday night.

On Sharif's arrival, supporters chanted: "The Lion is here." But his foes slammed PML-N's plans as dynastic and undemocratic. Khan called it a form of "monarchy."

Sharif said the plan is for former petroleum minister Abbasi to stay in power for less than two months until Shahbaz, who is the chief minister of the vast Punjab province, wins a by-election to the national assembly and becomes eligible to be prime minister.

Abbasi and Shahbaz will have to work fast to tackle Pakistan's worsening ties with the United States, frayed relations with India, and persistent attacks by Islamist militants, including the Pakistani Taliban and Islamic State.

They will also need to boost economic growth above the current rate of 5.3 percent to find employment for millions of young people entering the job market every year in a nation of nearly 200 million people.

Economists say this will prove tricky, with the current account deficit is ballooning and an overvalued currency is hurting exports.

Court Ruling

Sharif, whose PML-N party won elections in 2013, said he was shocked by Friday's Supreme Court ruling disqualifying him from office over unreported income from a company owned by his son in Dubai.

Sharif said the monthly salary - equivalent to $2,722 - was nominal and he never actually received any of it.

The Supreme Court employed little-used Article 62 of the Constitution, which calls for the dismissal of any lawmaker deemed dishonest, to dismiss Sharif. His allies believe the verdict smacks of judicial overreach. Others say privately elements of the military had a hand in the process.

"People of Pakistan haven't accepted the decision," Abbasi said.

The army has not commented on Sharif's departure, or on allegations they were involved. It has also dismissed claims in the past that they were behind the Supreme Court's push.

Sharif's two previous stints in power were also cut short, the second ending in a military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

Shahbaz Sharif, who has been in charge of Punjab since 2008, has better relations with the military than his brother. He has built a reputation as a competent administrator focused on building infrastructure.

Source: Voice of America

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif says government is focusing on infrastructure and tourism development in Azad Kashmir which is manifested by two fold increase of federal funding for these sectors.He was talking to Minister for Information and Tour...

ISLAMABAD �A Taliban suicide car bombing has killed at least 35 people and injured dozens more in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

An Interior Ministry spokesman, Najib Danish, while confirming the casualties, explained that a bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a minibus packed with civilian government workers in a western part of the city.

The blast took place while the bus was passing through a crowded marketplace, inflicting casualties on shopkeepers and passers-by, eyewitnesses told reporters.

Hospital officials expected the death toll to rise.

A Kabul police spokesman told VOA the victims were mostly employees of the mining and petroleum industry.

The Taliban swiftly took credit for plotting the violence, claiming its bomber targeted two minibuses carrying personnel of the Afghan intelligence agency, or NDS, and 38 of them were killed.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the bombing of civilians as appalling and cowardly.

Amnesty International has denounced the attack on civilians, saying it constituted a war crime and demanded the Afghan government ensure protection of its citizens.

A record number of civilians have been killed in the first half of this year, with women and children being the worst affected. And neither the Afghan government nor the international community is paying enough attention to their plight, the rights watchdog lamented while responding to Monday's attack.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented nearly 1,700 civilian deaths from January 1 to June 30, with Kabul accounting for 20 percent of the casualties.

Monday's deadly blast came amid revelations by the Taliban that one of the three suicide bombers who attacked Afghan forces in the southern Helmand province this past week was the middle son of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Islamist insurgency.

The 22-year-old bomber was identified as Abdul Rahman who had signed up for a suicide mission a year ago, say Taliban sources and independent Afghan researchers.

Source: Voice of America

Parliamentary Secretary for Information Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha has said that PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has miserably failed in providing basic facilities to masses. Addressing a public gathering in Sargodha, he said the PML(N) government...

The son of Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada died on July 20 carrying out a suicide attack in the embattled Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman said on July 22.

A government official said authorities were investigating the incident and could not confirm that Haibatullah's son had been killed.

Government media and information center director Sediq Sediqi disputed the claim on Twitter. He tweeted: "They lied, it is part of their propaganda, Taliban's families & leaders are having luxuries life in Pakistan & Qatar"

Abdur Rahman, 23, also known as Hafiz Khalid, died driving a vehicle filled with explosives into a large base of Afghan security forces in Gereshk district on the morning of July 20, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told dpa.

Taliban fighters drove three captured Humvee vehicles into checkpoints during heavy fighting around Gereshk on the same day.

Mullah Haibatullah became the leader of the Taliban after his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour died in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in May, 2016.

A government official said authorities are investigating the incident and cannot confirm that Haibatullah's son had been killed.

The Taliban already control about 80 percent of Helmand province, where thousands of hectares of poppy plants grow, earning the Taliban hundreds of millions of dollars from opium and heroin production.

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

SRINAGAR, INDIA � The Indian army fired at worshippers outside a mosque in disputed Kashmir on Friday, killing one man and injuring another, after some threw rocks, police and residents said.

Police said soldiers on patrol were pelted with rocks near the main mosque in Beerwah town, where worshippers had gathered to offer Friday prayers. A firecracker was hurled toward the soldiers, who mistook the loud noise for a grenade and retaliated, police said in a statement.

Residents, however, said only a few rocks were thrown and none hit any soldier. Witnesses said the soldiers fired indiscriminately after some rocks hit the iron shutters of shops that were closed because of a general strike against Indian rule in Kashmir.

The slain man, a tailor in his mid-20s, was hit by multiple bullets and died on the way to a hospital. The injured man was reported to be in stable condition.

The killing triggered anger and widespread protests in the town. Police fired tear gas, fearing the funeral procession would turn into larger protests in the area as thousands carried the man's body to a graveyard for burial while chanting slogans against Indian rule.

Some threw rocks at police, who fired shotgun pellets to quell the protest. No one was reported injured.

Shops, businesses and schools were closed in most parts of the region because of the general strike, called by separatists who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir. The separatists also called for a march to the United Nations office in Srinagar, the region's main city.

Authorities imposed a tight curfew in downtown Srinagar and areas near the U.N. office in anticipation of the march and anti-India protests.

Armed police and paramilitary soldiers in riot gear patrolled streets and blocked roads with razor wire and steel barricades.

Later Friday, scores of people led by a top separatist leader, Mohammed Yasin Malik, defied the security lockdown and tried to hold a protest march in Srinagar. However, police detained Malik and several other activists.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for the Indian-administered portion to become independent or merge with Pakistan. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir's mostly Muslim population and most people support the rebels' cause against Indian rule.

India has accused Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, which Pakistan denies.

Rebel groups have largely been suppressed by Indian forces in recent years and public opposition to Indian rule is now principally expressed through street protests.

Source: Voice of America

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif says PML-N government will fulfill its promises to people at all costs.In a statement issued in Lahore on Thursday, he said the well-aware people of Pakistan want development and prosperity of the county.The Chief M...