Before entering politics in the 1970s, Sharif studied business at Government College and law at the University of Punjab. In 1981, Sharif was appointed by President Zia as the Minister of Finance for the province of Punjab. Backed by a loose coalition of conservatives, Sharif was elected as the Chief Minister of Punjab in 1985 and re-elected after the end of martial law in 1988. In 1990, Sharif led the conservative Islamic Democratic Alliance and became the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan.

After being ousted in 1993, when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the National Assembly, Sharif served as the Leader of the Opposition to the government of Benazir Bhutto from 1993 to 1996. He returned to premiership after his party (PML-N) was elected in 1997, where he served until his removal in 1999 by military takeover. After serving in prison and exile for more than a decade, he returned to politics in 2011, and led his party into victory for a third time in 2013. In 2017, Sharif was removed from office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan following revelations in the Panama Papers case