Nawaz Sharif: From a provincial minister to prime minister

Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister of Pakistan thrice, but was forced to quit in the middle of his terms. First, it was the president, then the military and now the judiciary.

Nawaz Sharif, known as the ‘Lion of Punjab, first served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1990 to 1993, then from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2013 to July 28, 2017. Before becoming Prime Minister, he also served as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1985 to 1990.

The Sharif family hails from Lahore and is the owner of Ittefaq and Sharif Group foundries founded by Mian Mohammad Sharif (father of Nawaz Sharif).

Nawaz’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif has been serving as Punjab Chief Minister for the last eight years.

During early 1980s Nawaz Sharif was appointed by Ziaul Haq’s regime as the Minister of Finance for the province of Punjab and later elected as the Chief Minister of Punjab in 1985 and then again re-elected after the end of martial law in 1988.

In 1990, Sharif led a religious alliance to an election victory, after which he became the prime minister of the country. Later, it was alleged by rival Pakistan People’s Party that the election was rigged in favour of Sharif by the Pakistani establishment. The first tenure of Sharif terminated when the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan sacked him on corruption charges. Later in 1999, when Sharif attempted to sack the then Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf, he was ousted from the power and later he and his family were exiled to Saudi Arabia. After the 2013 elections, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party formed a government and he was elected Prime Minister by Parliament. Nawaz Sharif initially took steps to initiate Islamisation and conservatism in the country, a policy promoted by military dictator Gen. Zia UL Haq. However, later reforms were made to introduce fiscal conservatism, supply-side economics in Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif’s followers still believe that there is an international conspiracy against their leader and often claim that he is the victim of such conspiracy because he ordered to carry out Pakistan’s first nuclear test in 1998.

Ever since Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N won the 2013 elections in Pakistan, the Opposition parties, including Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and PPP claimed that the elections were grossly rigged.

In 2014, several opposition parties led by Pakistan Tehrike-Insaf and Dr Tahir ul Qadri’s Awami Tehreek launched a massive ‘long march’ accusing PML-N of alleged rigging in the elections and tried to force Nawaz Sharif out of office but failed.

In early 2016, the Panama Papers and documents leaked by law firm Mossack Fonseca disclosed that Nawaz Sharif’s family owned property worth millions of dollars and that many companies were being run by Sharif family members.

Imran Khan tried to launch a second campaign against Nawaz Sharif’s government, but later decided to approach the Supreme Court and seek a judicial remedy.

The Panama documents also revealed that Nawaz Sharif’s children Hassan, Hussain and Maryam own properties in the United Kingdom through a set-up of at least four offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands.

The Supreme Court established a Joint Investigation Team in early 2017 to investigate the charges of corruption against the Sharif family.

The JIT presented its report to the Supreme Court in July and the court decided to form a larger bench which yesterday declared their verdict disqualifying Nawaz Sharif, his two sons, one daughter Maryam who was being groomed as the next prime minister of the country.

The Supreme court verdict has apparently ended the political future of Sharif family although the party’s leaders continue to assert that Nawaz Sharif would return to power after next elections scheduled for mid-2018.