Shehbaz Sharif is the brother of Pakistan's former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif.
Shehbaz Sharif, Leader of the Opposition, is being considered a frontrunner to be Pakistan's next prime minister. He is little known outside Pakistan but has a reputation domestically as an effective administrator.
- The younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the 70-year-old is leading the opposition's attempt to topple the government led by Imran Khan, who was dismissed Sunday as Pakistan prime minister after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament following weeks of political turmoil.
- Analysts say Shehbaz, unlike Nawaz Sharif, enjoys amicable relations with Pakistan's military, which traditionally controls foreign and defence policy in the nation of 22 crore people.
- Shehbaz Sharif's administrative skills were on display when, as chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, he worked closely with China on Beijing-funded projects.
- He said in an interview last week that good ties with the US were critical for Pakistan for better or for worse, in contrast to Mr Khan's antagonistic relationship with Washington.
- Shehbaz was imprisoned following a military coup in Pakistan in 1999 and exiled to Saudi Arabia. He returned to the country in 2007. Shehbaz entered the national scene when he became the chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party after Nawaz Sharif was found guilty in 2017 on charges of concealing assets related to the Panama Papers revelations.
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