As Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan, here’s all you need to know about the ex-PM

Here is all you need to know about the 73-year-old veteran politician’s return to Pakistan:

1. 01

   Life and early years in Pakistan politics

   Nawaz Sharif was born into a Kashmiri family of industrialists in Lahore. He graduated with a law degree from Punjabi University and went on to worl in his family’s steel business. He entered politics, joining the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), after his family business was nationalised under the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

   This was also the beginning of a long political rivalry between the two families. Sharif joined the Punjab provincial cabinet as finance minister, becoming Punjab’s chief minister in 1985. The PML later split and Nawaz formed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

   Nawaz Sharif was first elected as Prime Minister in 1990, only to be removed from the post by Pakistan’s president in 1993. Although he was reinstated by the Supreme Court, he had to resign under pressure and his party. In the same year, his party lost elections to the Pakistan People’s Party of Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfiqar Bhutto.

   Workers give final touches next to huge portraits of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif displayed at the venue of his welcoming rally, in Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023.  (AP Photo)

   Sharif was elected as PM for the second time in 1997 and it was in this term that Pakistan successfully tested nuclear weapons in response to regional rival India’s atomic programme.

2. 02

   7 years in exile after being overthrown by Musharraf

   Overthrown in a military coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 1990, he was convicted of corruption and given a life sentence for hijacking over an incident when he ordered Musharraf’s plane not to land in Islamabad.

   He was allowed to go to exile in Saudi Arabia in the period between 2000-07 and was given a presidential pardon the day his family left. Sharif then returned from exile in 2008 as part of a political deal that ended Musharraf’s military rule but lost the elections to Benazir Bhutto’s party, who was assassinated ahead of the polls.

3. 03

   Sharif’s third term as Pakistan PM

   He was elected as prime minister for the third time in 2013. In April 2016, the leaked Panama Papers showed the involvement of Sharif’s family in offshore companies including two used to buy luxury homes in London.

   As Sharif denied any wrongdoing, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan threatened to paralyse Islamabad with a “lockdown” of street protests unless an independent investigation would be done into the Panama revelations.

   After setting up a judicial commission to probe the corruption charges, the Supreme Court in 2017 declared Sharif disqualified from office for not declaring income from a company in United Arab Emirates, which was not in original Panama Papers revelations. In October 2017, he was indicted in another corruption case relating to a Dubai-based company.

   In April 2018, the SC ruled that Sharif is banned from political office for life.

   Sharif left for London in Nove­m­ber 2019 on medical grounds after a higher court granted him bail for four weeks. By that time, he had served half of his seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia corruption case.

   During the four years since then, Sharif was declared a proclaimed offender in Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases for his continuous absence from the proceedings on appeals against the sentences.

4. 04

   Return to Pakistan in 2023

   As a federal court in Pakistan granted several days of protection from arrest to Sharif in graft cases on Thursday, it cleared the way for him to return home from self-imposed exile in London.

   Meanwhile, his chief rival Imran Khan, too, is disqualified from the elections by virtue of his graft conviction in August, which he has appealed. After Khan was ousted through no-confidence in April 2022, Nawaz’s brother Shehbaz Sharif took charge.

   Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif with his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif offers prayer, in Lahore, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. (PTI Photo)

   During Shehbaz Sharif’s term, Pakistan's economy which was already in dire states, worsened even further facing high inflation and dangerously low foreign exchange reserves. The floods of 2022 caused unprecedented damage to the country with critical infrastructure destroyed and millions displaced.

   While Nawaz Sharif cannot run again for election or hold public office because of his convictions, his legal team says he plans to appeal and his party says he aims to become prime minister for a fourth time.

5. 05

   What did he say before coming to Pakistan?

   Speaking to reporters at Dubai airport, Sharif deplored the "very chaotic" situation in Pakistan and expressed confidence that his party was "competent" to take the cash-strapped country out of the present crisis.

   “I'm going back to Pakistan after four years today,” Sharif said. “When I was leaving Pakistan and going abroad I had no feeling of happiness but today I am happy.”

   Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif addresses the media ahead of his return to Pakistan after four years, at Dubai airport, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. (PTI Photo)

   “I get very worried and disappointed seeing the situation in the country. The country that had to move forward is going backward now economically and unity-wise.” Terming the situation as “worrisome”, Sharif said there was still hope and “we should not let it slip from our hands as we are capable of fixing it because we spoilt it ourselves”.

   “When I remember Pakistan back then, I get hurt, we had said goodbye to the International Monetary Fund, electricity was cheap, the rupee was stable, there was employment, roti cost Rs 4, a poor family's child went to school and medicines were also cheap.”

   He said the country had to get back on its feet as nobody would lift us up.