ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif, the opposition leader set to become Pakistani prime minister for a historic third term, is a millionaire steel tycoon, considered strong on the economy but soft on the Taliban.
The 63-year-old, who was sentenced to life in prison after being deposed in a military coup in 1999, has a power base rooted in Pakistan’s richest and most populous province, where he is known as the Lion of the Punjab.
Immaculately groomed and dressed in a salwar kameez with a sharply cut waistcoat, he appeared relaxed as he declared victory for his Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party.
Prime minister from 1990 to 1993, and from 1997 to 1999, but soft-spoken and shy with the international media, he is considered a pragmatist in the West.
He has also called for peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban, blamed for killing thousands of Pakistanis in the past six years.
Sharif was born on December 25, 1949 into a wealthy family of industrialists in Lahore.
He was educated privately at English-language schools and secured a degree in law from the University of Punjab before joining his father’s steel company.
The family suffered hugely when Pakistan’s centre-left prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto nationalised private industry in the 1970s. As the elder son, Sharif was dispatched into politics.
Under military ruler Zia-ul Haq he became finance minister and then chief minister of Punjab — a post he held for five years from 1985 until he was elected prime minister in 1990. He beat arch-rival Benazir Bhutto in the polls and served a three-year term until he was sacked on corruption charges. In 1997, he won a landslide two-thirds majority for his PML-N. His government buckled under tensions with the army, which in 1999 seized power.
AFP
