Fact box and timeline of former PM Sharif’s political career

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned on Friday after the country's top court ruled him unfit for office for failing to disclose income and ordered a criminal investigation into his family over corruption allegations.

The prime minister's fall follows revelations in the so-called "Panama Papers" last year, which revealed Sharif's family had bought posh London apartments through offshore companies.

Here are some facts about the three-time prime minister.

•  Born into a Kashmiri family of industrialists in Lahore on Dec. 25, 1949, Sharif studied law at Punjab University and worked in the family business before going into politics in the Pakistan Muslim League (PML). Joining the Punjab cabinet as finance minister in 1981, he became its chief minister in 1985.

•  Prime minister for two terms in the 1990s, Sharif was overthrown by the army chief he appointed, General Pervez Musharraf, in 1999. The bloodless ousting was Pakistan's fourth military coup since independence in 1947.

•  After the coup, Sharif was convicted of graft, banned from politics, and given a life sentence for hijacking. Allowed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000, amid reports of a deal between his family and Musharraf's military government, he was given a presidential pardon the day his family left.

•  Sharif returned from exile in 2007 and contested elections the next year as part of a political deal that ended Musharraf's military rule. He lost to the party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated ahead of the polls.

•  He swept back to power in 2013 as his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) formed a coalition government. His party, which has a majority in parliament, is expected to name a new prime minister to hold office until elections due next year.

•  Sharif has denied any wrongdoing and has dismissed the investigation as biased. With his ouster, no Pakistani prime minister has completed a full term in power since independence.

Supporters of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif react after the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify Sharif, in Lahore, Pakistan Jul 28, 2017. Reuters

 

Events leading up to Pakistan PM Sharif's ouster

· Apr 4, 2016 - The Panama Papers show involvement of Sharif's family in offshore companies.

· Apr 22, 2016 - Sharif asks the Supreme Court to form a commission to investigate the Panama leaks after pressure from the opposition. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan demands an independent probe by the high court itself.

· Apr 24, 2016 - Khan threatens protests against Sharif and says the prime minister had lost "moral authority" to rule.

· May 16, 2016 - Sharif proposes parliamentary commission probe into the scandal; opposition walks out.

· Oct 28, 2016 - Khan accuses government of placing him under virtual house arrest; supporters fight police ahead of plan to shut down capital in protest.

· Nov 1, 2016 - Khan backs down from a threat to paralyse capital with a "lockdown" after violence breaks out with many of his supporters injured and the Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments to form a commission to investigate Sharif.

· Nov 2, 2016 - Supreme Court agrees to set up a judicial commission to probe corruption allegations against Sharif, stemming from Panama Papers leaks.

·  Apr 20, 2017 - Supreme Court rules there was insufficient evidence to order Sharif's immediate removal but orders a Joint Investigation Team to look further into the source of his family's wealth.

· Jul 11, 2017 - Judicial investigators rule Sharif's family accumulated unusual wealth; allies denounce findings.

· Jul 27, 2017 - Longstanding political ally and Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan says he would quit once top court rules on corruption allegations, regardless of the verdict.

· Jul 28, 2017 - Sharif resigns after court rules him unfit to hold office and orders more criminal investigations into his family. Court says it disqualified Sharif for not declaring income from a company in United Arab Emirates, which was not in original Panama Papers revelations.