Profile of Shehbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD, July 30 (APP): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N) candidate for the slot of Prime Minister, Muhammad
Shehbaz Sharif was born on September 23, 1951 in Lahore.
According to a TV channel, Shehbaz is the son of
Mian Sharif (founder of Ittefaq Group). He is a businessman
by profession.
Shehbaz Sharif received a Bachelor of Arts degree
from the Government College University, Lahore. After
graduation, he was elected president of Lahore Chamber
of Commerce & Industry in 1985.
He has two brothers, former Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif, deceased Abbas Sharif.
Sharif was married to his cousin, Nusrat Shehbaz in
1973 and had two sons, Salman and Hamza, and two daughters
Javeria and Rabia. Sharif got married in 2003 to Tehmina
Durrani.
Shahbaz Sharif was elected to the Punjab Provincial
Assembly in 1988, and to the National Assembly in 1990.
He was again elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993
and named Leader of the Opposition. Elected third time in
1997, Shehbaz was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab
on 20 February 1997.
After a coup in 1999, Shehbaz Sharif spent years
of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, returning to Pakistan in
2007. Hehbaz was appointed Chief Minister for a second
term after the PML-N’s victory in the province in the
2008 general elections.
During his tenure as Chief Minister of Punjab, he
focussed on health, education, agriculture and industrial
sectors. He undertook several development projects in
Lahore and launched a crackdown on criminals across
the province to maintain law and order.
While in exile in Saudi Arabia, Shehbaz was elected
as the President of PML-N in August 2002 and moved to the
United Kingdom in mid-2003 for medical treatment.
He was re-elected as the President of PML-N for a
second term in August 2006 and returned to Pakistan along
with Nawaz Sharif in November 2007.
Shehbaz Sharif was not allowed to take part in the
2008 general election due to some legal proccedings and
he was acquitted in the case during 1998.
Shehbaz Sharif was elected to the Provincial Assembly
of Punjab for the fourth time from Bhakkar constituency in
by-polls held in June 2008 and became Chief Minister of Punjab
for the second time unopposed after securing 265 votes in
the 371-members provincial assembly.
His second term as Chief Minister lasted until
February 2009, when a three-member bench of the Supreme
Court of Pakistan declared him ineligible to contest
elections, thereby removed him from office as Chief
Minister.
Later in April 2009, a five-member larger bench of
the Supreme Court set aside an earlier decision, in which
Shehbaz was disqualified from holding public office. As
a result, Shehbaz returned to office as Chief Minister.
Shehbaz was elected to the Provincial Assembly of
Punjab for the fifth time in 2013 after winning from
three Provincial Assembly seats (PP-159, PP-161 and
PP-247).
He also won one National Assembly seat (NA-129) but
he opted to retain his Provincial Assembly seat PP-159
and became Chief Minister of Punjab for the third time
unopposed after securing 300 votes in the 371-members
provincial assembly.
In 2016, Shehbaz was elected unopposed as the
president of Punjab chapter of Pakistan Muslim League
(N) in intra-party elections.
On July 29, 2017, Shehbaz Sharif was named as the
Prime Minister of Pakistan. But he couldn’t immediately
be sworn in as the Prime Minister. To become eligible for
the post, he will have to be a member of the National
Assembly.
Till his membership to the National Assembly, Shahid
Khaqan Abbasi has been nominated interim Prime Minister
of Pakistan for 45 days.