Sharif, (Muhammad) Nawaz (1949- )

Pakistani politician, prime minister 1990-93 and 1997-99. Formerly an industrialist, he became Pakistan's first prime minister not be drawn from the country's landholding elite. Leader of the right-of-centre Pakistan Muslim League (PML), he embarked on a programme of free-market economic reform, but was removed by the president in April 1993 on the grounds of ‘maladministration, nepotism, and corruption’. After his rival, Benazir Bhutto was removed on similar grounds, he returned to power. He was deposed by a military coup in 1999, and later sentenced to two life sentences for terrorism and hijacking an aircraft. In December 2000, he was freed by President General Pervez Musharraf, who had deposed him, and went into exile in Saudi Arabia.

As prime minister, Sharif set about trimming the powers of the president and the military. He controversially reversed a constitutional amendment, taking away the president's power to dismiss the prime minister. In May 1998, despite international condemnation, he responded to India's testings of nuclear weapons by sanctioning Pakistan's first-ever tests. Tensions between Sharif and Pakistan's General Musharraf heightened after Sharif used his influence to withdraw Pakistani-backed forces from the Indian side of the line of control in Kashmir in July 1999.

In November 2000, some supporters of Sharif joined with supporters of Benazir Bhutto and 15 smaller parties to form the Grand Democratic Alliance, designed to bring an early end to military rule. The move caused a split in the PML.

Sharif's first political post was as finance minister in his native Punjab 1981-85, during the military dictatorship of General Zia ul Haq. In 1985 he became chief minister in Punjab. During his second term he remained in dispute with the judiciary over powers to choose supreme court judges, and launched a corruption investigation against Benazir Bhutto.

Relations with the army began to deteriorate in 1999 after a conflict with the former army chief, Jehangir Keramat, who had made a proposition to give to army a formal voice in the government. Keramat subsequently resigned.

In his trial, he pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him and claimed that after his clash with Musharraf, the general had plotted his overthrow. In January 2000, a Pakistani judge refused to let his trial proceed on the grounds that a fair trial would be impossible in the presence of the intelligence officials. Despite this, and the refusal of six Supreme Court judges in Pakistan to swear an oath of allegiance to the new military government, the trial went ahead. Days before the closing arguments in the trial, one of Sharif's lawyers was shot dead by masked gunmen and the others demanded a safer venue. The government banned outdoor gatherings. Although found guilty of terrorism and hijacking, Sharif was acquitted of charges of conspiracy to murder and kidnapping. He was later also convicted of corruption, given an additional sentence of 14 years of hard labour, to run concurrently with his previous sentences, and fined 20 million rupees/US$35,400. He was, however, freed after just a few months.

A police investigation was also launched into the life of Kulsoom Sharif, Nawaz Sharif's wife. She was accused of treason after criticizing the military government.