Islamabad: Nawaz Sharif, the longest-serving prime minister, was just 10 months away from completing his five-year term in office when he was sent home after disqualification by the highest Court.
But this is not the first time. Sharif, who has served as prime minister an unprecedented three times, was somehow forced to quit in the middle of his term all three times, first by the presidency, then the military and now the highest court.
Businessman turned politician Sharif began his political career in 1981 as Finance Minister for the province of Punjab in Zia-ul-Haq’s regime. He first served as the Prime Minister from 1990 to 1993. Sharif’s first tenure terminated when the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan discharged him on corruption charges.
Sharif, known as the Lion of Punjab, once again rose to the position of premiership in 1997. But he was ousted in 1999 by the then Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf while attempting to relieve Musharraf from his command. Sharif was arrested, jailed and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of hijacking, terrorism and corruption. He was also banned from political activities and sent into exile in Saudi Arabia along with his family members. He returned to Pakistan in 2007.
Sharif, 67, was elected Pakistan’s prime minister for the record third time in 2013 when his party, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, formed a coalition government. The opposition’s claims of rigged elections and a six-month blockade of the capital Islamabad by Imran Khan’s party paralysed the government’s early days.
In November 2016, Pakistan’s highest court agreed to hear the case of allegations of Sharif’s financial impropriety. The charges against the Nawaz family stemming from the Panama Papers leak and the revelation that the family owned expensive residential property in London through a string of offshore companies, proved to be the biggest setback.
The Supreme Court verdict disqualified Sharif — yet again he wasn’t successful in completing his term, being dispelled from office on July 28, 2017, and apparently ending the political future of the Sharif family.
