Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif’s brother, can be next Pakistan Prime Minister – all about him

As the political drama continues in Pakistan and fate of Imran Khan hangs in balance, Shehbaz Sharif, the longest-serving Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, is poised to become the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday urged the Speaker to carry out the proceedings of the House according to the norms of the Constitution.

So who is Shehbaz Sharif? Here are some key points on the man who can very well helm the nation soon:

Shehbaz Sharif is the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, who has been Pakistan’s prime minister for three terms. Born on September 23, 1951 to a Punjabi-speaking family of Mian clan in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Shehbaz’s father was an industrialist.

The family had emigrated from Anantnag in Kashmir for business and then settled in Jati Umra village in Amritsar. After Partition, his parents migrated from Amritsar to Lahore. He did his BA from Lahore’s Government College University.

Shehbaz has been the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly since August 2018. Shehbaz was nominated as the PML-N president after his brother Nawaz was disqualified from holding office. A businessman by profession, Shehbaz’s political journey began after he was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in the 1988 general election.

He became the chief minister for the first time in 1997 of Punjab, a politically important province of Pakistan. But a 1999 military coup deposed the national government, forcing Shehbaz and his family to spend years in self-exile in Saudi Arabia.

Shehbaz returned to Pakistan only in 2007. In 2013, he was elected as the CM of Punjab and served his term until the 2018 general elections, when his party was defeated in general elections. In 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seized 23 of his properties, accusing him and his son, Hamza Sharif, of money laundering.

He and his family members were accused of accumulating assets worth Rs 7,328 million. In September 2020, the NAB arrested him at the Lahore high court and indicted him on charges of money laundering. In April 2021, the Lahore high court released him on bail.

Sharif has been slamming Imran Khan. The Leader of the Opposition in Pakistan even likened Prime Minister Imran Khan to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, terming his decisions to dissolve the National Assembly and reject the vote of no-confidence against him as an unconstitutional power-grab.

“Nazi Hitler prevailed to dissolve the Reichstag (German Parliament) and thereby solidified his position by abrogating the Constitution and ending the Weimar Republic- Imran Niazi is doing the same in Pakistan,” the PML-N president had said. Meanwhile, Imran Khan has continued to take jibes at Sharif reportedly for his prime ministerial ambition.