Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was born on
December 25, 1949 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. He is the eldest son of Muhammad
Sharif.
Nawaz Sharif got his schooling from Saint Anthonys High
School. After graduating from Government College Lahore, he obtained his Law
Degree from the Punjab University.
Nawaz Sharif
remained a member of the Punjab Provincial Council for some time. He joined the
Punjab Cabinet as Finance Minister in 1981. 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 President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan used the reserve powers vested in him by the Eighth Amendment
to dissolve the National Assembly. Less than six weeks later, the Supreme Court
overruled the President, reconstituting the National Assembly and returning
Sharif to power on May 26, 1993.
Nawaz Sharif
resigned from office along with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on July 18, 1993,
after his feud with the president, who had accused him of corruption. Moin
Qureshi became caretaker prime minister, and was succeeded shortly thereafter
by Benazir Bhutto, who was elected to office on October 19, 1993.
Nawaz was
returned to power in February 1997 with such a huge majority that the result
was immediately questioned by Bhutto Pakistan People Party.
One of the first
things Sharif did at the start of his second term was to orchestrate the scrapping
of Article 58-(2)(b) through another Amendment to the Constitution –
an exercise in which Sharif party was joined by all the other
political parties in the National Assembly and Senate. The Thirteenth Amendment
to the Constitution of Pakistan was passed so that the President could no
longer dismiss the Prime Minister; and the Fourteenth Amendment imposed
so-called party discipline on members of Parliament.
Party leaders now
had unlimited power to dismiss any of their legislators if they failed to vote
as they were told. This made it impossible to dismiss a prime minister by a
motion of no confidence. In effect, the two amendments removed nearly all
checks on the Prime Minister power, since they removed all legal
remedies to dismiss him. He opposed the independence of the judiciary, clashing
with the Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali Shah. The Supreme Court was stormed by
Sharif party loyalists on November 28, 1997, and the Chief Justice
was forced to resign.
On the development
front, Nawaz Sharif completed the construction of South West Asia first motorway, the 367 km M2, linking Lahore and Islamabad. The motorway,
which was initiated during Nawaz Sharif first term, was inaugurated
in November 1997 and was constructed at a cost of Rs 35.5 billion.
The peak of his
popularity came when his government undertook nuclear tests on 28 May 1998 in
response to India nuclear tests two weeks earlier. However, after
these tests, matter started going downhill. He suspended many civil liberties,
dismissed the Sindh provincial government and set up military courts when the
stability of the government was threatened. He was accused of cronyism and
being too supportive of Punjabi candidates for office, which marginalized his
party in the south.
During his first
term as prime minister, Sharif had fallen out with three successive army
chiefs: with General Mirza Aslam Beg over the 1991 Gulf War issue; with General
Asif Nawaz over the Sindh “Operation Clean-Up” issue; and
with General Waheed Kakar over the Sharif-Ishaq imbroglio.
At the end of
General Waheed three-year term in January 1996, General Jehangir
Karamat was appointed army chief. His term was due to end on January 9, 1999.
In October 1998, however, true to form, Sharif fell out with General Karamat as
well, over the latter advocacy of the need for the creation of a
National Security Council.
In October 1998
General Karamat resigned and Sharif appointed General Pervez Musharraf as army
chief (the first person to become army chief from the minority group of Urdu
speaking people). He would later regret appointing Pervez Musharraf to the
Chief of Army position, as Musharraf would lead a coup to topple
Sharif government.
