Shehbaz Sharif, the 70-year-old younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was elected unopposed as the new head of Pakistan. He succeeded cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who was removed by a no-trust vote April 10.

Sharif, the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has been the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. He had served as the chief minister of Punjab thrice, becoming the longest-serving CM of the province.

Following his brother

Shehbaz Sharif hails from a wealthy industrialist family. He was born in Lahore and studied at the Government College in the city. After completing his education, Shehbaz joined the family-owned Ittefaq Group, that dealt with iron and steel. However, much like his elder brother Nawaz, Shehbaz also embraced politics.

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In 1990, when Nawaz was elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the first time, Shehbaz became a part of the country’s General Assembly. During Nawaz’s second term as Prime Minister in 1997, Shehbaz became the chief minister of one of Pakistan’s most powerful provinces -- Punjab.

Leader of the Opposition

Two years later, when the elder Sharif’s stint at the Prime Minister’s Office was cut short by the military coup, both the brothers were deposed and exiled to Saudi Arabia till 2007 along with their families. On returning home, both regained their former posts.

In 2017, when Nawaz was ousted from office for the second time on corruption charges, it was decided by the party that Shehbaz would lead the party in Parliament. Since then, he has served as the leader of the Opposition and President of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party.

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The administrator

Shehbaz may not be as charismatic as his elder brother or have crowd-pulling qualities like his niece Maryam, but he is seen as a competent administrator.

Shehbaz worked on Beijing-funded projects and is considered better for Pak-China relationship, Chinese official media said on April 10.

"The potential successor of Khan is from the Sharif family, which has been promoting China-Pakistan ties for a long time, and cooperation between the two countries could be even better than under Khan," PTI reported quoting Chinese state-run media Global Times as saying.

Shehbaz is also credited with executing a number of mega infrastructure projects in Punjab during his three stints as the chief minister. He is known to have built Pakistan’s first modern mass transport system in Lahore.

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Corruption charges

Along with his elder brother, Shehbaz was accused of corruption. In December 2019, after being indicted on money-laundering charges, UK froze the bank accounts and assets of Shehbaz and his son Hamza Sharif. However, when Britain’s National Crime Agency failed to find evidence against them, they dropped the case.

In Pakistan, the indictment of the two has been deferred till April 27 in the money laundering case. A Pakistani court on April 11 extended their pre-arrest bail till the same day, paving the way for Shehbaz to become the country’s 23rd PM.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)