ISLAMABAD: Three-time Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has never managed to see out a full term, heads into Thursday’s election on the brink of his biggest comeback to date.
The “Lion of Punjab,” as he is known to his fanatical supporters, is hotly favored to lead his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party to victory and once again take charge of the nuclear-armed nation of 240 million people.
It is a far cry from Pakistan’s last elections, in 2018, when less than three weeks before polling he was sentenced to 10 years in jail on graft charges and disqualified from holding public office.
Granted special bail to seek medical treatment in Britain, Sharif chose not to return, pulling the strings from abroad as his brother took charge after Imran Khan was kicked out of office in 2022.
Often draped in a red Gucci scarf, Sharif’s political fortunes have risen and fallen on his relationship with Pakistan’s powerful military establishment — the country’s true kingmakers.
The 74-year-old is one of the nation’s wealthiest men, with a fortune earned in the steel business, but is admired by supporters for his approachable “man of the soil” demeanour.
Nawaz first took power in 1990 with the blessing of the establishment, but was forced out three years later by corruption allegations — a theme that has dogged his career.
Between terms in power, he has spent years in jail or in exile — forced and voluntary — in Saudi Arabia and London, where the Sharif family have extensive luxury properties, only to return to Pakistan each time with renewed zeal.
Stung by the nationalization of the family steel business — which he later regained control of — Sharif is a fiscal conservative and champion of economic liberalization and free markets.
He oversaw the privatization of several key state enterprises — including banks and energy producers — in a process critics say was riven by corruption.
He was also one of the key drivers of the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that has underpinned relations between Islamabad and Beijing in the last decade.
He was premier when Pakistan announced in 1998 that it had become a nuclear-armed power, weeks after India did the same.
During his various stints as prime minister he was accused of stacking courts with loyalist judges, tinkering with the constitution, and rigging provincial elections to shore up his party’s power bases.
His second term lasted two years and ended in 1999 with him deposed in a military coup after plotting to sideline army chief of staff Pervez Musharraf.
Sharif narrowly avoided the death sentence in a hastily convened trial before being sent into exile.
More than a decade later he was back in power in 2013, in part because of his brother’s diligent performance as chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province and its most powerful constituency.
But fresh graft allegations emerged when his children were named in the 2016 Panama Papers leak for holding offshore companies.
He was later convicted over separate corruption allegations and disqualified from office for life — the third time that he failed to complete a full term.
Less than a year into a seven-year prison sentence he was granted permission to travel to the United Kingdom for medical care and then declined to return.
But with Khan falling spectacularly out of favor with the military, Sharif’s fortunes began to change last year.
His return has been smoothed by legal changes reducing the period lawmakers can be barred from elections.
One by one his convictions have been overturned or quashed in recent weeks, leaving the “Lion of Punjab” with the chance to roar again.
Pakistan’s comeback king Nawaz Sharif seeks fourth term as PM
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Pakistan’s comeback king Nawaz Sharif seeks fourth term as PM
- Often draped in a red Gucci scarf, Sharif’s political fortunes have risen and fallen on his relationship with Pakistan’s military establishment
- The ‘Lion of Punjab,’ as known to his fanatical supporters, is again hotly favored to lead his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party to victory
Pakistan to launch last 2025 anti-polio nationwide drive targeting 45 million children next week
- Over 400,000 frontline health workers will participate in Dec. 15-21 nationwide polio vaccination campaign, say authorities
- Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world, the other being Afghanistan, where wild poliovirus remains endemic
KARACHI: Pakistan will kick off the last nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign of 2025 targeting 45 million children next week, the National Emergencies Operation Center (NEOC) said on Monday, urging parents to coordinate with health workers during the drive.
The campaign takes place days after Pakistan launched a nationwide vaccination drive from Nov. 17-29 against measles, rubella and polio. Pakistan said it had targeted 22.9 million children across 89 high-risk districts in the country with oral polio vaccination drops during the drive.
Over 400,000 health workers will perform their duties during the upcoming Dec. 15-21 nationwide polio vaccination campaign, the NEOC said in a statement.
“Parents are urged to cooperate with polio workers and ensure their children are vaccinated,” the NEOC said. “Complete the routine immunization schedule for all children up to 15 months of age on time.”
Health authorities aim to vaccinate 23 million children in Punjab, 10.6 million in Sindh, over 7.2 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over 2.6 million in Balochistan, more than 460,000 in Islamabad, over 228,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan and more than 760,000 children in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during the seven-day campaign, it added.
Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic.
Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.
Islamabad’s efforts to eliminate poliovirus have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on anti-polio workers by militant groups. In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted and killed in attacks.
