Chief Minister of Punjab (1997–1999) and exile
Sharif was re-elected to the Punjab Assembly from Constituency PP-125 (Lahore-X) as a candidate of the PML(N) in the 1997 Punjab provincial election. He received 25,013 votes and defeated a candidate of PPP. In the same election, he was re-elected to the National Assembly from Constituency NA-96 (Lahore-V) as a candidate of PML(N). He secured 47,614 votes and defeated Hanif Ramay. He was elected as the Chief Minister of Punjab for the first time and was sworn in as 13th Chief Minister of Punjab on 20 February 1997.
Sharif focused on healthcare, education, agriculture and the promotion of industry in Punjab. He undertook several development projects in Lahore and launched a crackdown on criminals across the province to maintain law and order. Sharif introduced a series of educational reforms such as reformed exams in a variety of subjects, as well as self-finance schemes for students.
He held his office until 12 October 1999, when he was removed from the post of Chief Minister in the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état.
In 1999, a complainant, Saeeduddin, lodged a first information report and accused Sharif of allowing the Punjab Police, as chief minister, to kill his son along with other men in a fake encounter. In the encounter, his two sons and three other people were killed by the police. Following the coup Sharif was imprisoned. In December 2000, he, along with his immediate family members, struck a deal with Pervez Musharraf negotiated by the Saudi royal family and went into exile in Saudi Arabia.
While in exile in Saudi Arabia, Sharif was elected as the PML(N) President in August 2002 and moved to the United Kingdom in 2003 for medical treatment.
In 2003, an anti-terrorism court summoned Sharif and five others accused in alleged extrajudicial killings in 1998. He was in the exile at that time and failed to show-up to the court. Later, the court issued an arrest warrant for Sharif. In 2004, Sharif attempted to return to Pakistan to appear before the court, but was forcibly deported back to Saudi Arabia.
In August 2007, the Supreme Court of Pakistan gave its verdict which allowed the Sharif and Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan. In September 2007, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan ordered police to arrest Sharif based on a 2003 arrest warrant. He later received bail from an anti-terrorism court. Sharif denied ordering the alleged killings and said the charges against him were politically motivated. He further added that in 2004, he had landed at Lahore Airport, wanting to appear before the court, but was sent back to Saudi Arabia by the government in violation of the orders of the Supreme Court. In 2008, he was acquitted by the Anti-Terrorism Court in the Sabzazar case.
Sharif was re-elected as PML(N) President for a second term in August 2006 and returned to Pakistan along with Nawaz Sharif in November 2007.
Sharif was ineligible to take part in the 2008 general election due to the Sabzazar case, but a few months later he was acquitted by the court.
On 14 July 2019, the Daily Mail published a news with the headline: "Did the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims?" According to the report, Shehbaz stole aid funds from the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) following the 2005 earthquake. It was written by Daily Mail journalist David Rose. Investigations have shown that the donated more than £500 million to the earthquake victims in Pakistan through the DFID, a UK government organisation.
David Rose claimed Shehbaz used the aid funds to send one million pounds through money laundering to his frontman Aftab Mehmood, a British citizen of Pakistani descent, who then gave the money to Shehbaz's family. Shehbaz and his family allegedly stole British citizens' tax relief funds, according to news reports. Salman Shehbaz, Shehbaz's son, refuted this information.
A DFID representative referred to the reports as "baseless" and "fabricated" on the organisation's website, and in January 2020, Shehbaz filed a claim for damages against the Daily Mail and Rose in the Royal Court of Justice in London.
According to court documents, the Daily Mail took almost three years to submit a defence of Rose's story. On 20 April 2020, Justice Matthew Nicklin issued the initial order for the listing hearing window running from 21 April 2020 to 31 July 2020. On 7 May 2020, Justice Nicklin issued a second ruling that extended the due dates. On 20 October 2020, Justice Nicklin issued the first order, merging the claims of Shehbaz and his son-in-law Yousaf. On 28 January 2021, Justice Nicklin issued another order pertaining to the preliminary issue trial. The verdict and order were delivered on 5 February 2021. Justice Nicklin ruled at the meaning hearing at the London High Court in favour of the PML(N). Justice Nicklin determined that the Mail on Sunday's article carried the highest level of defamatory meaning for both Shehbaz and Yousaf.
On 18 February 2021, Justice Nicklin issued the directive with relation to certain deadlines. On 15 March 2022, the Daily Mail filed its defence. On 17 March 2022, Master Thornett issued the directive to file the defence. On 23 June and 20 September 2022, he then issued the orders to extend the deadline for filing the defence. Following negotiations to resolve the dispute after March 2022 between Daily Mail and Shehbaz, it was made apparent to his legal counsel that the publication would issue an apology and take down the item under his conditions. On 26 September 2022, Justice Nicklin issued an order and scheduled a joint case management meeting for 9 November. Three days prior to this hearing, Shehbaz pulled his request for a delay in favour of a full trial in a shrewd political move. According to the regulations, the court was not informed that the lawyers for Daily Mail had been secretly negotiating with Shehbaz's lawyers for several months, proposing to apologise. Shehbaz was persuaded by his legal staff that there was no use in submitting more paperwork as the paper had already agreed to apologise and remove the defamatory and misleading piece.
Daily Mail publishers and Shehbaz's lawyers signed an agreement of settlement with Tomlin Order in the second week of December 2022, after which Daily Mail removed the defamatory article and apologised to the prime minister and his son-in-law. The ANL promised that it will never propagate these false allegations at any forum, it has also worked with Google to remove all articles carrying Daily Mail's previous allegations.
