On 6th July 2018, an accountability court in Islamabad convicted ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in absentia and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, in what seemed to be the end of a long and tumultuous political career of the three-time leader.
here is the Time Line of his Career
1949 – Nawaz Sharif was born into a Kashmiri family of industrialists in Lahore. He graduated with a law degree from Punjab University and joined the family steel business
1976 – Enterd politics, joining the Pakistan Muslim League after the Sharif family steel business was nationalised under the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the beginning of a long political rivalry between the families.
1981 – Joined the Punjab cabinet as finance minister, beccame Punjab’s chief minister in 1985. The PML later split and Nawaz formed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
1990 – First elected Prime Minister.
1993 – Removed as prime minister by President. Reinstated by Supreme Court but resigns under pressure; his PML-N loses elections to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of Benazir Bhutto.
1997 – Elected Prime Minister for second time. Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in response to India’s atomic programme.
1999 – Overthrown in a military coup by General Pervez Musharraf. Tried on corruption charges and sentenced for life.
2000-2007 – Allowed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000 amid reports of a deal with the military, he was given a presidential pardon the day his family left Pakistan.
2007 – Returns from exile to contest elections the next year as part of a deal that had brought curtains down on Musharraf’s military rule.
2008 – Loses election to the party of Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated ahead of the polls.
2013 – Elected Prime Minister for third time.
April 4, 2016 – The leaked Panama Papers show involvement of Sharif’s family in offshore companies including two used to buy luxury homes in London. Sharif denies any wrongdoing
Oct. 28, 2016 – Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan threatens to paralyse Federal capital, Islamabad, with a “lockdown” of street protests unless demands for an independent investigation into the Panama revelations are met. .
Nov 2, 2016 – Supreme Court agrees to set up a judicial commission to probe corruption allegations against Sharif, stemming from Panama Papers leaks. Khan backs down from lockdown threat.
July 28, 2017 – Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from elected office for not declaring income from a company in United Arab Emirates, (UAE), which was not in original Panama Papers revelations. The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to open a criminal trial into ownership of the London flats along with revelations in other Panama Papers
April 13, 2018 – The Supreme Court rules Sharif is banned from political office for life.
July 6, 2018 – The NAB court convicts Sharif of corruption and sentences him in absentia to 10 years in prison. Also convicted are his daughter and son-in-law