Nawaz Sharif: Giving peace a chance

Nawaz Sharif joined politics soon after Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto nationalised the Sharif family-owned steel business. The family was financially devastated after their business was lost into the hands of the government.

American historian Stephen Philips Cohen states in his book Idea of Pakistan: “Nawaz Sharif never forgave Bhutto … and even after [Bhutto’s] terrible end, Sharif publicly refused to forgive the soul of Bhutto and the Pakistan People’s Party.”

As the owner of Ittefag Group, a leading business conglomerate, he is also one of the country’s wealthiest men. He is commonly known as the “Lion of the Punjab”.

He is the 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan, in office since June 2013. He is the president of Pakistan Muslim League (N), which is currently Pakistan’s largest political party.

 

When and where was he born?

Born on December 25, 1949 in Lahore.

 

His previous appointments:

A veteran politician and industrialist, Sharif previously served as Prime Minister from November 1990 to July 1993 and from February 1997 to October 1999.

Serving as the Leader of the Opposition during Bhutto’s second tenure, Sharif was re-elected Prime Minister with a historic two-thirds majority in parliament, after Benazir was again dismissed for corruption by new President Farooq Leghari. 

 

Controversies surrounding Nawaz Sharif:

Sharif replaced Leghari with Rafiq Tarar as President, then stripped the Presidency of its powers by passing the Thirteenth Amendment.

He also controversially ordered Pakistan’s first nuclear tests in response to neighbouring India’s second nuclear tests. When Western countries suspended foreign aid, Sharif froze the country’s foreign currency reserves to prevent further capital flight, but this only worsened economic conditions.

 

Sharif’s tussle with Law and the Army:

With rising unemployment and record foreign debt, Sharif’s second term saw tussles with the judiciary and the army. After Sharif was summoned for contempt by the Supreme Court in 1997, party workers attacked the court and Chief Justice Syed Sajjad Ali Shah.

Sharif also fell out with army Chief Jehangir Karamat and replaced him with Pervez Musharraf in 1998, but after Pakistan’s haphazard performance in the Kargil War, relations between the two also deteriorated. When he attempted to relieve Musharraf from his command on 12 October 1999, the army instead ousted Sharif’s government, exiling him to Saudi Arabia.

 

Sharif’s redemption:

Sharif returned in 2007, and his party contested elections in 2008, forming the provincial government in Punjab under Sharif’s brother Shahbaz until 2013. He successfully called for Musharraf’s impeachment and the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Between 2008 and 2013, Sharif was in opposition. In the 2013 general election, his party achieved the largest number of votes and he formed a coalition to become the 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan, returning to the position after fourteen years, in a democratic transition, for an unprecedented third time.