Advantage Sharif

With a looming political crisis having been averted, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's opposition leader, has emerged stronger in his struggle with President Asif Ali Zardari.

The president had to relent to opposition demands and announce the reinstatement of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Nawaz Sharif, 60, is among Pakistan's best-known mainstream politicians, having been twice elected as prime minister (1990 and 1997).

He controversially reversed a constitutional amendment which took away the president's powers to dismiss the prime minister.

He was ousted in a bloodless coup in 1999 and was exiled to Saudi Arabia by the military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, a year later.

Sharif flew back to Pakistan in November 2007 to challenge the rule of Musharraf.

He had tried to return in September, but spent just a few hours in Pakistan before being deported again to Saudi Arabia.

Forming an alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party, Sharif made it clear he just had two demands - to remove Musharraf and restore judges sacked by him.

Within months, the former was achieved with the former army general being forced to resign. A bitter struggle between these two long-standing adversaries had finally been won by Sharif.

Sharif was born into the family of a prominent Lahore industrialist in 1949.

He made his mark in politics representing an urban constituency.

He first came to national prominence during the early days of General Zia's martial law, serving as Punjab province's finance and then chief minister.