Maryam Nawaz

Maryam Nawaz was born in Lahore, Punjab, in 1973 to Nawaz Sharif and Kulsoom Nawaz. She studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Lahore and completed her FSc at Lahore College for Women in 1991. She later enrolled at King Edward Medical College and Fatima Jinnah Medical College with the intention of becoming a doctor, but left her studies in 1992 after marrying Muhammad Safdar Awan, who was serving as her father's military attendant.

Maryam was initially involved in the Sharif family's philanthropic organisations. She served as chairperson of the Sharif Trust, Sharif Medical City and Sharif Education Institutes from 1997. Questions were later raised in court about her claimed postgraduate and doctoral qualifications, and by 2018 she had declared a master's degree in English literature to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Maryam entered public politics in 2012 after receiving permission from her father, Nawaz Sharif. She worked with PML-N leaders on the Punjab Women Empowerment Package and initiatives including the women-only Pink Bus scheme. She became particularly visible during Nawaz Sharif's successful 2013 election campaign, using social media to expand the party's reach and speaking publicly about education and women's rights.

After the PML-N formed the federal government, she was appointed chairperson of the Prime Minister's Youth Programme in November 2013. The appointment was challenged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on nepotism grounds, and the Lahore High Court ordered the government to remove her in November 2014. She resigned the following day. She later ran the Prime Minister's Office Strategic Media Communication Cell, which employed more than 90 people at its peak, and became a prominent figure in the party's political and digital campaigning.

Maryam's political rise was shaped by the legal troubles of the Sharif family. After the 1999 coup led by Pervez Musharraf, she was placed under house arrest with her mother, Kulsoom Nawaz, and later went into exile with members of the family in Saudi Arabia. During this period, she focused on raising her children and became fluent in Arabic. She returned to active politics as her father faced renewed legal challenges after the Panama Papers were released in 2016.

In the Avenfield case, Maryam was sentenced in July 2018 to seven years in prison for abetment. She returned to Pakistan with Nawaz Sharif and was arrested at Lahore's airport before being transferred to Adiala Jail. The Islamabad High Court suspended their sentences and ordered their release in September 2018. Maryam was arrested again in August 2019 in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case and was released on bail in November. Her Avenfield conviction was overturned by the Islamabad High Court in September 2022, restoring her eligibility to contest elections.

During Nawaz Sharif's exile in the United Kingdom, Maryam became one of the PML-N's most visible political figures. She was appointed vice president of the party in 2019 and led rallies criticising Imran Khan's government, the PTI, the military establishment and the judiciary. In 2020 she became a leading figure in the Pakistan Democratic Movement, an opposition coalition that included the PML-N and Pakistan People's Party. The coalition helped remove Imran Khan through a vote of no confidence in April 2022, after which her uncle Shehbaz Sharif became prime minister.

In January 2023, Maryam was appointed senior vice president and chief organiser of the PML-N, with responsibility for restructuring the party. The promotion placed her among its senior-most leaders and intensified discussion about the party's succession. She subsequently travelled across Pakistan to mobilise support for the PML-N before the 2024 general election and helped organise the public welcome for Nawaz Sharif when he returned from exile in October 2023.

Maryam contested the 2024 general election from Lahore constituencies NA-119 and PP-159. She won both seats, making her the first member of the Sharif family to contest a general election at that stage of her career. She relinquished the National Assembly seat while retaining the provincial assembly seat after the PML-N nominated her for chief minister.

On 26 February 2024, she was elected chief minister of Punjab with 220 votes and became the first woman to hold the office of chief minister of any province in Pakistan. Her government announced the establishment of Punjab's first public cancer hospital, introduced a laptop and scholarship programme for students, and approved the proposed Air Punjab airline project. Her administration also supported the Punjab Defamation Bill, which it presented as a measure against fake news, while opposition politicians and journalists criticised it as a threat to freedom of speech.

Maryam has advocated minority rights and opposed political alliances with banned militant organisations. She has also taken a strongly critical position toward military involvement in civilian politics and has called for accountability for former Inter-Services Intelligence director Faiz Hameed, whom she accused of contributing to the downfall of Nawaz Sharif's government. Hameed rejected the suggestion that he could have overthrown a government single-handedly.

She is widely viewed within the PML-N as a leading successor to Nawaz Sharif. Her assertive rhetoric and ability to draw crowds have helped her establish a political identity in a party historically dominated by men, although her rapid rise has also generated internal resistance. Maryam was included in the BBC's 100 Women list in 2017 and was featured by The New York Times among its powerful women of that year.