SHEHBAZ'S POISONED CHALICE

THE FIRST BATTLE IS WON. FACING NEW PAKISTANI PM SHEHBAZ SHARIF IS A SET OF CHALLENGES: COALITION, ECONOMY, TIME ITSELF AND A SEETHING IMRAN KHAN

- HASAN ZAIDI

The most ardent wish often comes unbidden. After the end of a weeklong political drama that made international headlines, when 70-year-old Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan on April 11, you could tell that it was the culmination of a life-long dream for the three-time former Punjab chief minister.

For more than 30 tumultuous years in politics, he had lived under the shadow of his elder brother, former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and it was often considered unlikely that he could ascend to the top office while his more charismatic brother was still around.

But a Supreme Court conviction that disqualified the elder Sharif for life in 2017 opened the doors to Shehbaz being appointed president of their party—the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)—and finally to come to the chief executive’s position at the head of a coalition of parties that had banded together to oust former premier Imran Khan in a vote of no-confidence.