Islamabad, SAEDNEWS: He has been a member of the National Assembly since 13 August 2018 and is the current President of the Pakistan Muslim League-N. Previously, he has served as the Chief Minister of Punjab three times in his political career, making him the longest-serving Chief Minister of Punjab.
Shehbaz was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly in 1988 and to the National Assembly in 1990. He was again elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993 and named Leader of the Opposition. He was elected as chief minister for first time in 1997, Shehbaz was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab on 20 February 1997.
After a military coup deposed the government in 1999, Shehbaz along with family spent years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, returning to Pakistan in 2007. Shehbaz was appointed Chief Minister for a second term after the PML-N's victory in the province in the 2008 general elections. He was elected as Chief Minister of Punjab for the third time in 2013 and served his term until his party's defeat in the 2018 general election. He was nominated as the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-N after his brother Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding office. He was nominated as the Leader of the Opposition after the 2018 election.
In December 2019, the National Accountability Bureau froze 23 properties belonging to Shehbaz and his son, Hamza Sharif, accusing them of money laundering. On 28 September 2020, NAB arrested Shehbaz at Lahore High Court and indicted him on charges of money laundering. He was incarcerated pending trial. On 14 April 2021, Lahore High Court released him on bail in money laundering reference.
The Pakistani parliament’s lower house will meet on Monday to vote for a new prime minister after it removed Imran Khan from the premiership in a no-confidence vote in the early hours of Sunday, the acting speaking has said.
Ayaz Sadiq, presiding over the assembly session in the absence of the ruling party members and its designated speakers, said nomination papers for candidates should be filed by 11am local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday.
Khan, 69, lost the vote of confidence after being deserted by coalition partners who blame him for a crumbling economy and failure to deliver on his campaign promises.
“As far as governance was concerned, the government had totally failed,” Senator Anwaar ul Haq Kakar of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), a coalition ally that withdrew support for Khan in late March, told Al Jazeera.
“There was disgruntlement for the past two years,” he said.
The result of the no-confidence vote, which was the culmination of a 13-hour session that included repeated delays, was announced just before 1am (20:00 GMT on Saturday) by Sadiq.
Parliamentary elections are not due until August 2023. However, the opposition has said it wants early elections, but only after it delivered a political defeat to Khan and passes legislation it says is required to ensure the next polls are free and fair.
Khan’s removal extends Pakistan’s unenviable record for political instability: no prime minister has completed their full term since independence from Britain in 1947, although Khan is the first to be removed through a no-confidence vote.
He surged to power in 2018 with the military’s support, but recently lost his parliamentary majority when allies quit Khan’s coalition government. There were also signs he had lost the military’s support, analysts said.
Khan was overthrown after more than three years as leader of the nuclear-armed country of 220 million, where the military has ruled for nearly half of the country’s near 75-year history of independence (Source: AlJazeera).
What led to leader Imran Khan’s downfall in Pakistan?
