Nawaz Sharif (born December 25, 1949) was twice elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan, serving two non-consecutive terms. His first term was from November 1, 1990 to July 18, 1993, and his second term was from February 17, 1997 to October 12, 1999. His party is the Pakistan Muslim League N (Nawaz group).
Sharif was born in Lahore, the son of Mian Mohammad Sharif , then the owner of a modest cast-iron parts business who later became a prominent industrialist. Nawaz Sharif became politically prominent after General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq declared martial law over Pakistan in 1977. Sharif served as finance minister for General Zia, and then served as a provincial chief minister. He became an important figure in Pakistani politics when elected government was restored in 1988 after General Zia's death.
He first became Prime Minister on November 1, 1990, running on a platform of conservative government and an end to corruption. His term was interrupted on April 18, 1993, when the President used his Eighth Amendment powers to dissolve the Assemblies. Less than six weeks later, the Supreme Court overruled the President, restoring the Assemblies and returning Sharif to power on May 26, 1993. Sharif was removed from office on July 18, 1993, having been accused of corruption, by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who replaced him with caretaker Prime Minister Moin Qureshi, succeeded shortly thereafter by Benazir Bhutto, who was elected to office on October 19, 1993.
He returned to power in on February 17, 1997 with a majority large enough to change the Constitution. In this second term, he was widely seen as mercenary and paranoid in Pakistani politics, isolating and destroying his opposition, although many of his old supporters also broke rank with him as he neglected their advice. Important politicians such as Gohar Ayub, Ejaz ul-Haq, and Mohammed Azhar, who had staunchly supported Sharif when he was in opposition against Benazir Bhutto, abandoned him. His former friendships and political alliances became strained or broken. His Muslim League party became increasingly divided (and later fractured) over his policies.
Sharif was accused of trying to stifle institutional opposition to himself. He modified the Pakistani constitution twice: the Thirteenth Amendment was passed so that the President could no longer dismiss the Prime Minister; the Fourteenth Amendment imposed so-called party discipline on members of Parliament. He opposed the independence of the judiciary, clashing with the Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali Shah. The Supreme Court was stormed by Sharif's party goons on November 28, 1997, and the Chief Justice was forced out of office. He attempted to stifle press freedoms. On May 8, 1999, at 2:30 A.M., Sharif's secret police smashed into the bedroom of a leading critic, journalist Najam Sethi, beating him up in front of his wife and kidnapping him. Sethi was later released after an international outcry.
After the Nuclear Tests at the Chagai Hills, he suspended many civil liberties and alarmed the Indian government which thought he was going on a war path. He dismissed a Sindhi government and set up military courts when the stability of the government was threatened, and defied a Pakistani tradition that balanced power between the provinces. He was accused of cronyism and being too supportive of Punjabi candidates for office, which marginalized his party in the south. He clashed with army chief Jehangir Karamat in 1998, forcing Karamat to resign.
The perceived poor performance and increasing corruption of his administration led to severe public dissatisfaction. In 1998, after he ordered the withdrawal of forces from the Kargil area during the "Kargil Conflict", Sharif became even more unpopular. Growing fiscal deficits and debt-service payments led to a financial crisis involving a narrowly-averted default on the government's international loans. With Pakistan suffering from frequent power blackouts, Sharif directed the army in early 1999 to take control of the Water and Power Development Authority . An inadvertent admission of ineffectiveness on the part of his civilian administration, this may have led to the military coup later that year.
With the public and press openly speculating about the possibility of a military takeover, Sharif became increasingly insecure. On October 12, 1999, he ordered the Karachi Airport to not allow the landing of a commercial passenger jet carrying General Pervez Musharraf (and nearly 200 others). At the same time, he attempted to appoint ISI Chief Khwaja Ziauddin as Army Chief. The army refused the appointment and took over the Karachi airport. The airplane landed with only minutes of fuel to spare. Musharraf assumed power, dismissing Sharif, and declaring himself the Chief Executive of Pakistan.
Sharif was thrown in prison and tried by Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Courts, which sentenced him to several life sentences for corruption, hijacking, tax evasion, embezzlement, and terrorism in 2000. The military government agreed to commute his sentence from life in prison to exile in Saudi Arabia. His family moved with him. His wife and senior members of his party formed an anti-military coalition along with the Pakistan People's Party, previously the major opposition to Sharif's Muslim League.
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