Shehbaz Sharif: PM to be politician plagued by corruption allegations of his own: UK weekly

Shehbaz Sharif, the brother of disgraced prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been plagued by corruption allegations of his own, became favourite to replace PM Imran Khan, a UK weekly wrote in an article.

The Economist’s article wrote, “Imran khan’s career as a professional cricketer ended in glory. His political career looks likely to end in defeat.”

“Mr Khan, who has served as Pakistan’s prime minister since 2018, is facing a no-confidence vote on April 3rd; he will probably lose. Mr Khan blames a “foreign-imported conspiracy”, claiming the West (by which it is assumed he means America) wants to oust him in part for visiting Russia just as it launched its invasion of Ukraine.”

“The favourite to replace him is Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of a former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. Mr Sharif’s election, if successful, would demonstrate Mr Khan’s failure to sweep away Pakistan’s political dynasties. But who is he?”

It stated that the brother of a disgraced prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz has been plagued by corruption allegations of his own.

Who is Shehbaz Sharif?

The politician is the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly since August 2018 and the president of the largest opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) after his brother Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding office.

He had served as the chief minister of Punjab thrice, making him the longest-serving CM of the province.

Sharif had been elected as an MPA in 1988 and later as an MNA in 1990. He had become Punjab’s chief minister in 1997.

He and his family had spent many years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia following a military coup in 1999. They returned to Pakistan in 2007 and Sharif was re-elected as the Punjab CM for the second term.

Political analysts said that majority of the past rulers have faced controversies regarding their corrupt background until the tenures of political dynasties were ended up by cricketer-turn-politician Imran Khan who became the prime minister in 2018.

They reminded that the foreign media outlets had written several articles regarding the corruption scandals Nawaz Sharif’s foreign properties, Surrey Palace belonging to Benazir Bhutto late, Asif Ali Zardari and now Shehbaz Sharif after their nomination for the most powerful position of the country.