Nawaz Sharif

Title & tenure

12th, 14th and 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan (1990–1993, 1997–1999, 2013–2017)

In office: 1990 – 2017

Predecessor:

Benazir Bhutto (1st & 3rd terms); Malik Meraj Khalid, caretaker (2nd term)

Successor:

Balakh Sher Mazari, caretaker (1st term); Pervez Musharraf, as Chief Executive (2nd term, by coup); Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (3rd term)

Biography

Nawaz Sharif, a wealthy Lahore industrialist who entered politics under Zia-ul-Haq as Punjab's Chief Minister, went on to become the only person to be elected Prime Minister of Pakistan three times, with each of his first two terms also cut short before completion.

Achievements

• Launched major economic liberalization and privatization of state industries in the 1990s
• Authorized Pakistan's nuclear tests at Chagai in May 1998, in response to India's tests earlier that month
• Signed the Charter of Democracy (2006) with Benazir Bhutto, committing to inter-party cooperation against military intervention
• Oversaw major infrastructure projects including motorway construction and power-generation initiatives during his third term
• His third term government saw the passage of major energy and infrastructure development, including early China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreements

Key events

• First term (1990–93) dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, though the Supreme Court initially reinstated him before a negotiated resignation
• Second term (1997–99) ended when Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf overthrew his government in the 12 October 1999 coup, after Sharif attempted to dismiss Musharraf
• Convicted and exiled to Saudi Arabia after the coup, before returning to Pakistani politics in 2007
• Third term (2013–2017) ended when he was disqualified from holding office by the Supreme Court in the 2017 Panama Papers ("Panamagate") case

Legacy

Nawaz Sharif is remembered for major economic and infrastructure initiatives across three terms, for authorizing Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests, and for a long-running, consequential rivalry with the military establishment that ended each of his first two governments and ultimately his third as well.

How it ended

Disqualified from office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in July 2017 over undeclared income in the Panama Papers case; later convicted and imprisoned, then left for medical treatment in London before returning to Pakistani politics in 2023.