Shehbaz Sharif

Biography

Shehbaz Sharif was born in Lahore in 1951 into a Punjabi business family of Kashmiri origin; his brother is Nawaz Sharif. After a BA from Government College, Lahore, he joined the family's Ittefaq Group, and in 1985 he became president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He entered the Punjab Assembly in 1988 and the National Assembly in 1990, when his brother led the Islami Jamhuri Ittihad alliance. Re-elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993, he led the opposition there, and in February 1997 became chief minister of Punjab. After the 1999 military coup he was arrested and in 2000 exiled to Saudi Arabia with his brother; they returned in 2007. He was chief minister again from 2008 to 2018, the longest anyone has held the post.

Sharif became president of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) in 2018 after his brother's disqualification, and led the opposition in the National Assembly after that year's election. When a no-confidence motion removed Imran Khan in April 2022, he was elected prime minister. After the disputed 2024 election, in which his party won a plurality, he became prime minister again in March 2024. His governments have faced high inflation, dependence on IMF loans, and criticism of constitutional amendments affecting the judiciary.