Shehbaz Sharif is coalition candidate for next PM of Pakistan. Who is he?

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif is the coalition candidate for the next prime minister of Pakistan, theparty announced on Tuesday (Feb 13). Sharif, 72, was named by the PML-N and its coalition allies to head the country despite his elder brother and three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif winning a seat in the assembly (in the recently concluded general elections) and being favourite to be sworn in for a fourth term.

Sharif first became PM in April 2022 and served in the position till Aug 2023 when the Pakistani parliament was dissolved ahead of the general elections on Feb 8. Some of the challenges that the 72-year-old would face as PM include combating the country's intensifying economic crisis, maintaining ties with the military and improving relationswith neighbouring countries, including India.

As Sharif is hoping to returnto power for a second time, here are a few things to know about him:

>Shehbaz Sharif was born in Lahore on Sept 23, 1951. He is the younger brother of former three-time PM Nawaz Sharif.

>After graduating from Government College University, Lahore, Sharif joined the family business and later ventured into politics.

>He began his political career in the late 1980s. He was elected to the provincial assembly of Punjab in the 1988 general elections. He became Punjab's chief minister in 1997 and served in the top position for a second term in 2008 and then for a third term in 2013.

>Sharif has been the longest serving CM of Punjab. As chief minister, Sharif planned and executed many ambitious infrastructure mega-projects, including Pakistan's first modern mass transport system in Lahore.

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>According to a report by the news agency Reuters, Sharif's cabinet members and bureaucrats who have worked closely with him call him a workaholic.

>He entered national-level politics when his elder brother Nawaz Sharif was found guilty in 2017 on charges of concealing assets related to the Panama Papers. Shehbaz was the president of the PML-N.

>The 72-year-old has been married twice. He has two sons and two daughters from his first marriage but none from the second. One of the sons is in politics but the others are not in public life.

>During his first tenure as PM, Sharif's biggest achievement in his short stintwas clinching a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with Pakistan on the brink of a debt default.

>Despite clinching the bailout deal, Pakistan under his government saw its inflation toucha high of 38 per cent with record depreciation of the rupee currency. Sharif blamed the economic crisis on his predecessor Imran Khan's government which he says broke an agreement with IMF just before he was ousted.

(With inputs from agencies)