Maryam Nawaz Sharif: 10 things to know about Pakistan's first woman chief minister

Maryam Nawaz Sharif is the first woman to be chief minister of Punjab -- a post that has long been a stepping stone to becoming the Pakistan's prime minister. (Image credit: Reuters)

Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the daughter of Pakistan's three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was on Monday elected as the head of the country's most populous province, Punjab. The 50-year-old is the first woman to be chief minister of Punjab -- a post that has long been a stepping stone to becoming the country's prime minister. The development underlined the expanding grip of the Sharif family in Pakistan.

Here are 10 things to know about Maryam Nawaz Sharif:

1.) She is the fourth member of her family to become the chief minister of Punjab, which accounts for 53 percent of Pakistan's 241 million population and 60 percent of its $350 billion GDP. It is also the home province of the Sharif family. Her father, Nawaz Sharif, and his younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, have also been chief ministers of Punjab.

2.) Maryam Nawaz is known for her fiery speeches and pulling large crowds, but has not held a prominent public office before.

3.) The 2024 general election was the first time she contested the polls, and she represented her father's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

4.) She entered mainstream politics after 2017 when she and her father were found guilty of concealing assets, and they both served jail time before their convictions were overturned.

5.) After Nawaz Sharif left for London in late 2019 for medical treatment, Maryam Nawaz led a countrywide campaign to take on Khan's government, the country's powerful military, and the judiciary, who she blamed for targeting her party and family.

6.) She has faced deep criticism from opponents, including Khan, of dynastic politics in Pakistan. She has also been targeted for being a woman leader in the socially conservative Muslim nation.

7.) Maryam Nawaz Sharif was in 2023 arrested for her alleged involvement in the Chaudhary Sugar Mills case and she alleged that the authorities had installed cameras in her jail cell and bathroom. "I have gone to jail twice and if I speak about how I, a woman, was treated in jail, they will not have the audacity to show their faces," she had said, referring to the government.

8.) Born on October 28, 1973 in Lahore into a wealthy industrialist family, Maryam Nawaz married Safdar Awan, an army officer who was serving as a personal secretary to his father in his second term as prime minister in 1992. They have a son, two daughters, and a granddaughter.

9.) She studied medicine but did not complete her degree, and later got a Masters in English Literature from Punjab University.

10.) Maryam Nawaz played a key role in establishing her party's social media wing to combat Khan's digital presence and headed a youth affairs programme for her father when he was premier in 2013.

(With inputs from Reuters)