Maryam Nawaz: Nawaz Sharif's political heir becomes Pakistan's first woman chief minister

She was born on October 28, 1973, in Lahore when her father, then leading a steel conglomerate, was not active in politics.

When Maryam Nawaz Sharif took oath as the first woman chief minister of Punjab province on Monday, she not only became the first to assume the position in any province since Pakistan’s founding but also signalled the arrival of the next generation leader from the Sharif family in the country’s politics.

Maryam’s appointment as the Chief Minister of Punjab province was reportedly part of a deal worked out with the blessings of the powerful Pakistan Army earlier this month when the three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) failed to muster enough seats to form a government on its own. The establishment reportedly offered the 74-year-old PML-N supremo two choices — nominate his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, a former prime minister himself, to lead the next coalition government in Islamabad and Maryam can be the chief minister of Punjab, the politically crucial and the most populous province of the country.

Nawaz Sharif, who surprised many by announcing the nomination of 72-year-old Shehbaz Sharif as the party’s prime ministerial nominee, decided that this was the most opportune moment to introduce his daughter as his political heir by making her the chief minister of Punjab. Punjab province is the home bastion of the Sharifs, an influential political family of Pakistan that has had two prime ministers ruling over Pakistan for four terms, albeit all incomplete, between them over the last three decades.

But for Maryam, it would not just be carrying forward her family legacy in the political arena but also a case of a woman leading the province known for being a feudal land. A major issue for the educated, elitist daughter of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would be how much of a popular leader she can become. Political observers said Maryam, who rose to be the emblem of resistance for the PML-N after her father Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power in 2017, is currently "aligned with the powerful military establishment" which is poorly reflecting upon her democratic credentials. Political analyst Brig (retd.) Farooq Hameed told Press Trust of India that Maryam will have to shun her ’royal style’ to serve the 120 million people of the province.

"In the first month itself of the chief minister's office, her direction will be known to everyone … whether it will be a continuation of the elite culture in Pakistan or she rises above from her dynastic politics," he said. "She should also not follow the politics of revenge, instead adopt the spirit of accommodation and flexibility concerning the Opposition," he said. Hameed agreed that the most important thing for Maryam would be how she can inspire the new generation, which, he said, "is in love with Imran Khan."

In 2018, when her father was sent to a 10-year prison sentence by an Accountability Court, he was not alone. Maryam was also found guilty and was given a seven-year prison term. Although Maryam and her husband, Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar, who was sentenced to one year in prison in the same case, were soon released on bail and later in 2022, acquitted by the Islamabad High Court, the experience proved baptism by fire for Sharif's daughter.

The case, however, dented the image of the Sharifs. Unlike her mother Kulsoom Nawaz, who was a homemaker, Maryam had neither participated in any political activity nor was a prominent public figure. In fact, not just Maryam, but her two brothers — Hussain and Hasan — too were almost always away from the limelight. She was born on October 28, 1973, in Lahore when her father, then leading a steel conglomerate, was not active in politics.

After graduating from the Convent of Jesus and Mary school, she pursued her undergraduate studies at Punjab University and also earned a master’s degree from the same institution. She was married off at the age of 19 to Capt Mohammad Safdar who later quit the army and joined civil service through a quota in the government of his father-in-law. He later quit that job too and started a business.

Maryam was leading a life away from the political glitz and raised her three children like any other elite family would do before she stepped into active politics in 2011 while her two brothers — Hussain and Hasan, British nationals — chose to prefer to run the family business in London. She, however, rose to fame when she launched a popular anti-military tirade for ousting her father from power in 2017. For many Western Pakistan watchers, she is a reminder of yet another powerful father-daughter combination in Pakistan, former president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter, late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto Zardari.

The comparisons are obvious as, like Benazir, Maryam too, is well educated, has good oratory skills, has good command over both Urdu and English and is almost always found in public wearing the traditional full-sleeved salwar kameez with her dupatta strictly on her head. Therefore, in a deeply patriarchal society such as Pakistan's, there was hardly any commotion when the social worker mother of adult children, Maryam Safdar, changed to being a full-time time politician, Maryam Nawaz. She was a close advisor to her father when he was serving as the Prime Minister for the second time and later, since 2019, she is a senior vice president of the PML-N.

Ten years down the line since her official debut, when Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after ending the four-year self-imposed exile in London in October 2023, the former prime minister indirectly anointed his daughter as his political heir as he told a mammoth rally at Minar-e-Pakistan, "I am the son of the soil, Maryam is the daughter of the soil." Political commentator Ahmad Fraz Khan said, "She will have to de-link herself with her uncle's (Shehbaz Sharif, who is going to be prime minister of a coalition government) style of politics and needs to do differently in governance to establish herself as a strong administrator," Khan said.

In Punjab, she along with the military will have to share power, as "she will not be alone calling the shots in Punjab being the Chief Minister as she will have to follow directions from the establishment being a partner in power sharing," he said. The powerful Pakistan military has ruled Pakistan directly or indirectly for more than half of its 75 years of existence and no political developments are possible without its blessings.