Overview
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
(b. 1949)
Quick Reference
(b. 25 Dec. 1949).
Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1990–93, 1997–9 Born in Lahore, he graduated from Government College in Lahore before obtaining a law degree from Punjab University. He entered politics in that province, and entered the Cabinet of Punjab state as Finance Minister in 1981. In 1985 he became Chief Minister of Punjab, and in 1990 Prime Minster. He was forced to resign in 1993 and was succeeded by Benazir Bhutto, but in 1997 his Pakistan Muslim League won an overwhelming victory in the elections. He strengthened his position against his personal rival, President Farook Leghari, and promoted the introduction of Islamic law, the Shariah, in 1999. In that year he was deposed in a coup and imprisoned. In 2000 he was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment and fourteen years of hard labour, but later that year he was allowed to emigrate to Saudi Arabia.
