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| Nawaz Sharif with his Mentor General Zia Ul Haq |
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Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was born on 25 December, 1949 is a Pakistani politician and business steel
magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two
non-consecutive terms from November 1990-July 1993 and February 1997-October
1999. He currently served as the President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N-Wing). Before
becoming the Prime minister, Sharif was the Chief Minister of Punjab from
1985 to 1990 and embarked his political career under the military
regime of President General Zia-ul-Haq.
He is a wealthy
businessman and a conservative politician. His first term was shortened after
the Pakistan Army pressured him to resign. In 1997,
he was elected on for a second term by an overwhelming margin. During his
second term, he notably ordered Pakistan's first
nuclear tests in response to India's nuclear
tests. He was ousted in an October 1999 military coup by Pervez
Musharraf. He returned to Pakistan in late 2007 after eight years of exile.
He is a declining force
in Pakistani politics ever since Wikileaks cables exposed his private
opposition of the reinstatement of Chief
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his
party's unpopular policies in the Punjab provincial government.
Early
life and education
He was born in Lahore, West-Pakistan on
December 25, 1949, a year after the nation's founding. He came from a family of
scrap traders. His father and uncles had a small steel mill that is known as
Ittefaq Steel Mills in Landa Bazar of Lahore before the creation of Pakistan.
He attended St. Anthony's High School at
Lahore. However, he along with his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif later on
attended Pakistan Railway High School, Moghalpura, Lahore. Both passed Matriculation from
this school in 1964 and 1965 respectively. Nawaz Sharif got admission in the Government College University of
Lahore. He obtained his B.A. degree,
followed by another B.A. from the same institution in 1969. In
1970, Sharif then attended the Punjab University where he attained
his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Punjab
University Law College, which is also in Lahore.
Business
enterprise: Ittefaq Group
He is a joint owner of
Ittefaq Group. Ittefaq Group is one of the largest business conglomerates in
Pakistan. He helped establish the Ittefaq Islamic Academy in Lahore, where
students receive religious instruction in addition to their secular training.
He and his cousins
expanded their family iron foundry. They lost control of their business in the
1972 nationalization policies by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It was re-established in
1977 as Ittefaq Industries in Lahore. The business was returned after Sharif
developed political links with Chief Martial Law Administrator of
Pakistan, and Chief of Army Staff General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, later President of
Pakistan. By 1990, Ittefaq Industries was one of Pakistan's most affluent
conglomerates, with more than $450 million in annual revenues, up from
approximately $16 million in 1981. It included the country's largest private
steel mill, Ittefaq Foundries (Pvt) Ltd, eight sugar mills, and four textile
factories. Sharif's net worth is around US $4 billion. With upwards of hundred
thousand employees, Ittefaq Group .However allegation persist that nawaz sharif
engages in price fixing of sugar and other commodities.
Initial political career
He principally rose to
public and political prominence as a staunch proponent of the military government of Chief Martial Law Administrator (designated
himself as President) and Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq during the 1980s. He maintained
an alliance with General Rahimuddin
Khan, who was Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
During his political career, Sharif also had close ties with ISI Director-Lieutenant-General
(retired) Hamid Gul, who played a substantial role in the formation
of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad- a conservative political alliance that
supported Sharif.
Punjab
Advisory Council
In 1981, he initially
joined as a member of the Punjab Advisory Council under President General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Shariff would also served as the Provincial Minister of
Finance and Provincial Minister of Sports under the Provincial Government of Punjab
Province
Chief
Minister of Punjab
He served for two
consecutive terms as Chief Minister of Punjab
Province, the most populous province of Pakistan. (April 9, 1985 - May 31,
1988) From 1988 to August 1990, he became the Caretaker Chief Minister
after Zia-ul-Haq dissolved the assemblies.
First
term as Prime Minister (1990-93)
Sharif became the prime
minister of Pakistan on 1 November 1990 as the head of IJI and succeeded
Benazir Bhutto. He campaigned on a conservative platform and vowed to reduce
government corruption. He focused on improving the nation's infrastructure and
spurred the growth of digital telecommunication. He privatized government banks
and opened the door for further industrial privatization. He legalized foreign
money exchange to be transacted through private money exchangers. His
privatization policies were continued by both Benazir Bhutto and Pervez
Musharraf. Moreover he gave tasks to the Ministry of Religious Affairs to
prepare reports and recommendations for steps taken for Islamization. He
ensured the establishment of three committees.
Ittehad-e-bain-ul-Muslemeen
Nifaz-e-Shariat
Committee
Islamic
Welfare Committee
He believed in forming
a Muslim Bloc by uniting all Central Asian Muslim Countries thus he extended
the membership of ECO to all Central Asian Countries. Nawaz Sharif was pretty
confident that he had majority in the assembly thus he ruled with considerable
confidence. He had disputes with three successive army chiefs. General Mirza Aslam Beg, General Asif Nawaz ,
General Abdul Waheed Kakar and with General Pervez Musharraf.
Co-operatives
Societies Scandal
Sharif also lost
support because of the co-operatives societies scandal. Co- operatives
societies accept deposits from members and can legally make loans only to
members for purposes that are to the benefit of the society and its members.
However, mismanagement of these societies led to a collapse in which millions
of Pakistanis lost
money in 1992. In Sharif’s native Punjab 700,000
people mostly poor people lost all their savings when the states cooperatives
societies went bankrupt. It was soon discovered that The society had granted
billions of rupees to the Ittefaq group.
Parliamentary
opposition (1993-96)
After the 1993 general
elections, the Pakistan Peoples Party returned to power. Sharif conceded defeat
and offered his full co-operation as Leader of the opposition but soon The PPP
and PML-N again came at loggerheads. Benazir's government found it difficult to
act effectively in the face of opposition from Sharif and The PML-N. They
worked tirelessly to undermine her government. In 1994 Sharif began a
"Train March" taking him from Karachi to Peshawar during which huge
crowds listened to his critical speeches. Sharif played a major part in
organizing strikes throughout Pakistan in September and October 1994. By 1996,
the PPP had become unpopular because of there high levels of corruption which
led to their ouster in October.
Second
term as Prime Minister (1997-99)
In the 1997 General
Elections The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) won a landslide victory in the
elections. Sharif was sworn in as Prime Minister on 17 February to serve a
non-consecutive second term.
In August 1997, he
passed the controversial Anti-Terrorist Act which
established Anti-Terrorism Courts. The Supreme Court later rendered the Act
unconstitutional.
1998
Pakistan's nuclear tests
Pakistan's nuclear
tests were an important turning point in his political career. In his first
term, Sharif funded Pakistan's nuclear, missile and space programme, as well as
allotted funds for the science research, particularly its extension to defence.
Soon after Indian nuclear tests, Sharif vowed that his country would
give a suitable reply to the Indians. When India tested its nuclear arsenal a
second time, it caused a great alarm in Pakistan. On 15 May 1998, Sharif called
and chaired a National Security Council meeting
in Prime minister Secretariat. The discussions went on for a few hours and
encompassed the financial, diplomatic, military, strategic and national
security concerns. The meeting had two agendas: Firstly, whether or not
Pakistan should carry out nuclear tests in order to respond to Indian’s nuclear
tests? Secondly, if Pakistan does go ahead with the tests then which of the two
organizations, PAEC or KRL, should carry out the tests?
Mushahid Hussain Syed, Minister of Telecommunications, was
the first person to propose the tests, while, Sartaj Aziz who
was the Finance Minister that time, was
the only person in the meeting who opposed the tests on financial grounds due
to the economic recession, the low foreign exchange reserves of the country and
the effect of inevitable economic sanctions which would be imposed on Pakistan
if it carried out the tests. When it comes to voting, Sharif did not
opposed nor proposed the tests. The remainder spoke in favor of conducting
the tests.
Dr. Ishfaq
Ahmad of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
and Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan of Kahuta Research Laboratories equally
presented their point of views, and approached for the permission from Sharif. The
meeting concluded without any resolution of the two agenda points. On the
morning of 17 May 1998, Sharif summoned Ishfaq Ahmad and asked him for his
opinion on two points discussed on 15 May. Dr. Ahmed told the Prime
Minister that the decision to test or not to test was that of the Government of
Pakistan. Ahmad also acknowledged that PAEC was ready for the capability
of carrying out the tests. Sharif then concluded that eyes of the world
were focused on Pakistan and failure to conduct the tests would put the
credibility of the Pakistan nuclear programme in doubt. Dr. Ahmad then
said:“Mr. Prime Minister, take a decision, then I give you the guarantee of
success." Sharif ordered PAEC to make preparation for the tests, but
remain on stand-by for the final decision.
Pakistan carried out
its successful nuclear tests on 28 May 1998 (codename Chagai-I), and
on 30 May 1998 (codename Chagai-II, in response to the Indian detonation of five
nuclear devices roughly two weeks before.
After weeks of anticipation,
Pakistan surprised the world by conducting its own nuclear tests. Sharif
proclaimed an emergency on the same day as these nuclear tests were conducted.
All the foreign currency accounts in Pakistani banks were frozen to minimize
the effects of economic sanctions. He put the Pakistan Armed Forces on high
alert in order to defend country's nuclear installations. He justified the
tests on national security grounds, as they demonstrated Pakistan's nuclear
deterrent capabilities against an armed Indian nuclear program. Under
his premiership, Pakistan became the first Muslim country
and seventh nation to become a nuclear power.
In spite of the intense
international criticism and the steady decline in foreign investment and trade,
the nuclear tests were popular domestically and the Shariff's popularity and
the PML (N)'s prestige rose in response.
Constitution
Amendment
In late August 1998, he
proposed a law to establish a legal system based on the Islamic principles. His
proposal came a week after 10-year commemorations of the late President Zia ul-Haq.
The Cabinet removed some of its controversial aspects. The National
Assembly approved and passed the bill on 10 October 1998 by 151 votes to 16. However,
the amendment failed to achieve two-thirds majority in the Senate. Weeks
afterward, Sharif's government would suffer a military coup.
Relations
with the military
During his second
tenure, he removed General Karamat over the National Security Council disputes.
He later had severe political confrontation with General Musharraf that
resulted in a coup d'état which removed him from
office.
At the end of General Wahid Kakar's three-year term in January 1996,
General Jehangir Karamat was appointed Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan
Army. His term was due to end on 9 January 1999. However, in October 1998
Sharif had a falling out with General Karamat over the latter’s advocacy of a
"National Security Council". Sharif interpreted this move to be a
conspiracy to return the military to a more active role in Pakistani politics.
In October 1998, General Karamat resigned and Sharif promoted Lieutenant-General Pervez
Musharraf, core-commander of the I Strike Corps that time, as
4-star general and appointed him as new Chief of Army Staff. Sharif then also
appointed General Musharraf as Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee despite
Musharraf's lack of seniority to Admiral Bokhari. In protest, Admiral Fasih Bokhari resigned from his post as Chief of Naval Staff.
Military
coup
On 12 October 1999,
Sharif attempted to remove Pakistan Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf and
appoint Ziauddin Butt in his place. Musharraf, who was in Sri Lanka,
attempted to return through a commercial airliner to return to Pakistan. Sharif
ordered Sindh IG Rana Maqbool to arrest of Chief of Army Staff and Musharraf.
He ordered the Karachi
Airport to be sealed off to prevent the landing of the Musharraf's airliner
fearing a coup d'état. Sharif ordered the plane to land at Nawabshah
Airport. Musharraf contacted top Pakistan Army Generals who then took over
the country and ousted Sharif's administration. Musharraf later assumed control
of the government as Chief Executive.
Trial
The military placed him
on trial for "kidnapping, attempted murder, hijacking and terrorism".
The military court quickly convicted him and gave him a life sentence. Under
an agreement facilitated by Saudi
Arabia, Sharif was placed in exile for the next 10 years.
Imprisonment
 |
| Nawaz Sharif in Prison |
He struck a deal with
General Pervez Musharraf and went into exile. He signed a written agreement in
which he accepted that he will not come back to Pakistan for 10 years and will
not play any role in Pakistani politics and will live these 10 years in Saudia
Arabia.
He is the only
political prisoner of Pakistan who struck the deal to come out of jail.
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