Shehbaz Sharif

Early life and education

Shehbaz Sharif was born on September 23, 1951 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. His father, Muhammad Sharif, was an upper-middle-class businessman and industrialist whose family had emigrated from Anantnag in Kashmir for business, and eventually settled in the village of Jati Umra in Amritsar district, Punjab at the beginning of the twentieth century. His mother's family came from Pulwama. After the movement led by Jinnah and his struggle to create Pakistan in 1947, his parents migrated from Amritsar to Lahore.

Sharif received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Government College University, Lahore.

After graduation, he joined his family owned Ittefaq Group and got elected president of Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry in 1985.

Initial political career

Sharif began his political career after getting elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab for the first time in 1988, however his term prematurely ended in 1990 when the assemblies were dissolved.

He was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab for the second time and to the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time in the 1990 general election. He vacated the Provincial Assembly seat and retained the National Assembly NA-96 seat. However his term prematurely ended in 1993 when the assemblies were dissolved.

He was re-elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in 1993 for the third time. and became Leader of the Opposition in Provincial Assembly of Punjab. During his tenure as leader of the opposition, he remained in the United Kingdom for some years due to medical treatment. In his absence, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was made acting leader of the opposition. His term prematurely ended in 1996 when the assemblies were dissolved.

First term as Chief Minister of Punjab

He was re-elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in 1997 for the fourth time and was elected as the Chief Minister of Punjab for the first time. He was sworn in as Chief Minister of Punjab on 20 February 1997.

During his tenure as Chief Minister of Punjab, he was praised for his good governance in the province because of his focus on health, education, agriculture and industrial sectors. He undertook several development projects in Lahore and launched a crackdown on criminals across the province to maintain law and order in the province.

He held his office until 12 October 1999 when was removed from the post of Chief Minister in the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état. Following the coup he was imprisoned. In December 2000, he along with his immediate family members was exiled forcibly to Saudi Arabia following the request of the Saudi royal family.

While in exile in Saudi Arabia, Sharif was elected as the President of PML-N in August 2002 and moved to the United Kingdom in mid-2003 for medical treatment.

Sabzazar case

In 2003, an anti-terrorism court issued an arrest warrant for Sharif in a 1998 extrajudicial killings case. Sharif was accused for ordering extrajudicial killings of five people in a fake police encounter in 1998 during his first tenure as Chief Minister of Punjab. Sharif attempted to return to Pakistan in 2004 to appear before the court, but was forcibly deported back to Saudi Arabia. In August 2007, the Supreme Court of Pakistan gave its verdict which allowed Sharif to return to Pakistan. In September 2007, a court in Pakistan ordered police to arrest Sharif "at whichever airport he lands at" on a 2003 arrest warrant. Sharif denied ordering the alleged killings and said the charges against him were politically motivated. He further said "in 2004 he landed at the Lahore Airport and wanted to appear before the court but the government in a deceitful mode sent him back to Saudi Arabia in sheer violation of the orders of the Supreme Court."

Second term as Chief Minister of Punjab

He was re-elected as the President of PML-N for a second term in August 2006 and returned to Pakistan along with Nawaz Sharif in November 2007.

Sharif was not allowed to take part in the 2008 general election due to the charges of murder. In 2008, Sharif was acquitted in the 1998 extrajudicial killings case.

Sharif was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab for the fourth time from Bhakkar constituency in by-polls held in June 2008 and became Chief Minister of Punjab for the second time unopposed after securing 265 votes in the 371-members provincial assembly.

His second term as Chief Minister lasted until February 2009, when a three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared him ineligible to contest elections, took away his seat in the Punjab Assembly, and thereby removed him from office as Chief Minister. Later in April 2009, a five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court overturned an earlier decision of the apex court, in which Sharif was disqualified from holding public office. As a result, Shehbaz returned to office as Chief Minister.

Third term as Chief Minister of Punjab

Sharif was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab for the fifth time in 2013 after winning from three Provincial Assembly seats (PP-159, PP-161 and PP-247). He also won one National Assembly seat (NA-129) but he opted to retain his Provincial Assembly seat PP-159 and became Chief Minister of Punjab for the third time unopposed after securing 300 votes in the 371-members provincial assembly.

In 2016, Sharif was elected unopposed as the president of Punjab chapter of Pakistan Muslim League (N) in intra-party elections.

On 29 July 2017, Sharif was named leader of the PML-N, and hence Prime Minister-designate of Pakistan, following the disqualification of outgoing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after the Panama Papers case decision. However, Sharif could not be sworn in immediately because he was not a member of the National Assembly. As a result, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was made interim Prime Minister of Pakistan for 45 days, presumably giving Sharif enough time to enter the legislature via a by-election. After Abbasi's election as Prime Minister of Pakistan, however, it was reported that he was likely to continue as Prime Minister for the next ten months until the 2018 general election due to the reluctance of Shehbaz Sharif to leave the post of Chief Minister of Punjab.

Reportedly, Sharif was offered to become Prime Minister of Pakistan by the establishment several times previously but never accepted.

Personal life

He has two brothers, Abbas Sharif, and Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz is a three-time elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. His sister-in-law, Kalsoom Butt, is the First Lady of Pakistan, a three time non-consecutive term.

Sharif first married to his cousin, Nusrat Shehbaz. The couple married in 1973, and had two sons, Salman and Hamza, and two daughters Javeria and Rabia.

Sharif married in 2003 to Tehmina Durrani, the author of My Feudal Lord. He lives at his ancestral home in Lahore, Raiwind Palace.

Sharif is a businessman by profession and jointly owns Ittefaq Group, a multi million-dollar steel conglomerate.