Shehbaz Sharif set to become Pakistan's next prime minister
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif is all set to become the next prime minister as the ruling Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was voted out after losing the no-confidence motion.
The voting on the no-confidence motion resulted in Imran Khan-led PTI losing with 174 votes in favour of the no-confidence motion. Sharif's candidature as the opposition's choice for the prime ministership was revealed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari during a joint press conference of the opposition parties on 30 March.
Shehbaz Sharif, born in an industrialist family in Lahore in 1950, is the younger brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has served for three terms. Shehbaz Sharif has been the chief minister of the crucial Punjab province of Pakistan for three terms.
Having made a reputation as an administrator, Shehbaz Sharif had staked claims for the prime minister's chair in August 2018. But the decision of the Bilawal Bhutto-led PPP to abstain from the PM vote in the last hour paved the way for the comfortable election of PTI's Imran Khan as the prime minister. Shehbaz Sharif had then settled as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.
A graduate of the Government College University, Lahore, Shehbaz Sharif initially joined his family's steel business, while also becoming the president of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industries in 1985.
The political fortunes of the Sharif family rose considerably in the 1980s under the dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq, with elder brother Nawaz Sharif inducted into the Punjab Provincial Cabinet as Finance Minister in 1983.
Shehbaz Sharif entered the Punjab Provincial Assembly in 1988 while he was elected to the National Assembly in 1990. In 1993, he again stood for a Provincial Assembly seat and became leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly.
He became the chief minister of Punjab for the first time after the 1997 elections. However, his term was cut short by Pervez Musharraf's military coup of 1999 after which he became the CM of the Punjab province again in 2008, returning from almost a decade long political exile.
Shehbaz Sharif was elected unopposed as the president of PML-N in February 2018 following his elder brother, and then prime minister Nawaz Sharif's disqualification from holding key positions after being implicated in the 'Panama Papers'.
Like his elder brother, Shehbaz Sharif also faces serious corruption charges. In December 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) froze 23 properties belonging to Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Hamza, accusing them of money laundering.
He was arrested by the NAB in the same case in September 2020 and incarcerated pending trial. In April 2021, the Lahore High Court released him on bail in the money laundering case.