Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif

Chief Minister Punjab, President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
Born: 03 July 1950
Profession: Politician, Business Man
Affiliation(s): PML-N
Citizenship: Pakistani






Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif Born in Lahore in 1950 also known as Shahbaz Sharif is a well known Pakistani politician. He is brother of Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is President of Pakistan Muslim League (N), and Chief Minister of Punjab and ex-Member of Pakistan's National Assembly

Who graduated with distinction from Lahore, is a keen businessman and played a vital role in success of the Ittefaq Group of Companies, which was founded by his father and uncles. He was elected as president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1985.

Family Life
Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s first marriage with his cousin Begum Nusrat Shahbaz was contracted in 1973 with the approval of his father late Mian Muhammad Sharif. They have two sons, Hamza and Salman and three daughters. All of them but Salman are married. Begum Nusrat Shahbaz is a housewife.

Shahbaz Sharif's second marriage is with Aaliya Honey in 1993-94. At that time he was living in London. They have one daughter, Khadija. According some sources, many issues and legal requirements were not met in their divorce.

Shahbaz Sharif's third marrage is with Tehmina Durrani. This is the third marriage for both of them.

Politicla life
He was elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1988 elections and National Assembly in 1990. He was again elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993 and was named leader of the opposition in the house when Manzoor Wattoo was the chief minister of Punjab. After his election to the Punjab Assembly for the third time in 1997 elections,

Shahbaz Sharif was elected leader of the house and sworn in as the chief minister of Punjab on February 20, 1997. He held the office till October 12, 1999 when the military under staged a coup under General Pervez Musharraf and toppled the government of his brother. He was arrested from the Prime Minister in Islamabad along with his brother.

He was considered a very strict administrator and good chief minister of Punjab but he also get criticism that he was a powerful chief minister of Punjab because his brother was Prime Minister of Pakistan.He has credit of renewing Lahore and lot of development work in Punjab. Despite all controversies, Shahbaz Sharif is remembered as the best cheif minister any province in Pakistan ever had.

As the chief executive of the Punjab province, he was known as a strict disciplinarian. During his tenure, he tried to eliminate the culture of bureaucratic hurdles in the uplift process and focused on health,education, agriculture and industrial sectors. He launched a successful operation against ghost schools by involving army. He also took action against use of illegal means in examinations acrossthe province. The entry test and self-finance systems in medical colleges were introduced during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister. He never compromised on quality of work in development sector and several projects in Lahore are a proof of his commitment in this regard. Even his opponents described as the best administrator the Punjab ever has.

Exiled to Saudi Arabia
Exiled to Saudi Arabia along with the whole Sharif family on December 20, 2000, he was elected unopposed as president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on August 3, 2002. He spent two years in Saudi Arabia and then moved to the United States for medical treatment and instead of returning to Jeddah, where his family was staying, he went to London. He attempted to come back to Pakistan on May 11, 2004 but was again deported to Saudi Arabia within a few hours. He was re-elected as PML-N president for second term on August 2, 2006. He was once considered a strong future candidate for office of the prime minister of Pakistan. He represented Pakistan at various international forums including the United Nations, where his views and speaking powers were appreciated. His keynote speech at the International Labour Conference held in Geneva in 1981 was praised by the worker associations, activists and democratic people around the world.

Return to Pakistan
He returned to Pakistan along with other family members on November 25, 2007 and landed at the Allama Iqbal Airport in Lahore.

Elections 2008
Shahbaz Sharif was not allowed to participate in the 2008 elections because of allegations against him. His son Hamza Sharif was supposed to run from a NA seat in Lahore but due to the death of a candidate the elections were postponed.

Second term as Chief Minister
On 8 June 2008, Shahbaz Sharif was elected as Chief Minister of Punjab, receiving 265 votes from the members of the 371-seat provincial assembly. He was the only candidate, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q boycotted the vote. Speaking after his election, he called on Musharraf to resign.He won a vote of confidence on 9 June, receiving 266 votes.

Mian Shahbaz Sharif after becoming Chief Minister of Punjab was welcomed by the public and media who were keen to see how he pursues his unfinished agenda of public welfare and reforms in education sector.