Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif celebrated his 70th birthday today, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Shehbaz Sharif was born on this day (September 23) in 1951 in Lahore to a Kashmiri family.

His father Muhammad Sharif was an industrialist who belonged to Amritsar and had migrated to Lahore after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. His mother’s name was Shamim Akhtar.

His brothers’ names are Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who thrice remained country’s prime minister and now is PML-N supremo, and late Abbas Sharif.

Shehbaz’s son Hamza Shehbaz and niece Maryam Nawaz both are in politics. 

Shehbaz thrice remained Punjab chief minister. Last time he served as the chief executive of the province from June 8, 2013 to June 8, 2018.

For the first time he was elected as member of the Punjab Assembly (PA) in 1988 elections followed by member National Assembly in 1990 elections. 

He again won a PA seat in 1993 and became leader of the opposition in the House, while in 1997, it was for the third time that he was elected to provincial assembly and was elevated to the position of chief minister.

Following the coup by former Gen Pervez Musharraf on October 12, 1999, he went to Saudi Arabia where he spent eight years of his life in exile.

Shehbaz eventually returned to the country in 2007 and after winning PA seat in 2008 elections became Punjab chief minister for the second time. 

In 2009 when then President Asif Ali Zardari imposed ‘Governor Raj’ in Punjab and appointed late Salman Taseer as the governor, Shehbaz was sidelined.

He and other PML-N leaders then set out on a ‘Long March’ against Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani due to which judiciary was restored and governor’s rule in the province came to an end.

During his second stint as Punjab CM, Shehbaz concentrated on developing province’s road infrastructure, particularly of Lahore and also managed to control the spread of Dengue in 2011.