Third term as prime minister (2013–2017)

Nawaz was sworn in for an unprecedented third term as prime minister on 7 June 2013.

1. Social policy
Nawaz's third term in Pakistan moved from social conservatism to social centrism. He backed
the Punjab government policy of banning Tablighi Jamaat from preaching in educational
institutions and enacted a law to provide a helpline for women to report domestic abuse. He also
hanged Mumtaz Qadri on 29 February 2016 and declared Hindu festivals Diwali and Holi and
the Christian festivals of Easter public holidays. This was a "significant step" for the country's
religious minorities.

2. Economic policy
n 4 July 2013, the IMF and Pakistan reached a provisional agreement on a billion bailout
package to bolster Pakistan's flagging economy and its low foreign exchange reserves.
On 10 February 2016, World Bank Group's president Jim Yong Kim applauded the
economic policies of Nawaz's government, while Fred Hochberg, head of the Export-
import Bank of the United States, visited Pakistan on 14 April. On 9 May, the World
Bank's Pakistan Development Report stated that the current account was in a healthy
position, but that Pakistan's export competitiveness has diminished due to protectionist
policies, poor infrastructure, and high transaction costs for trade. On 15 December 2016,
Pakistan became a signatory of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development's Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. On 24
October 2016, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde visited Pakistan, during which
she maintained Pakistan was "Out of the economic crisis". On 1 November 2016,
Pakistan and China began to trade under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.
oIn February 2016, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation is to be converted into a
public limited company as Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited to make way
for privatization
3. Communications and development
To boost the economy, Nawaz started the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), which
included the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Dasu Dam, Faisalabad-Khandwa M-4 Motorway,
Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro bus Service, and Lahore-Karachi Motorway. Nawaz's
administration announced an increase in the PSDP budget from PRs. 425 to PRs. 525 billion for
FY2014–15. Mobil Ink, Telenor, Ufone, and Zong are mobile providers who triumphed in
auctions for 3G and 4G mobile spectrum licenses, raising US$1.112 billion. Nawaz also
introduced the Prime Minister's Youth Programmed, which allocated PRs 20 billion for the
distribution of laptop computers, interest-free loans, and skill development.

Nuclear power policy

Nawaz broke ground on a US$9.59 billion nuclear power complex in Karachi in 2013
and plans to construct 32 by 2050. He confirmed to the IAEA that all future civilian
nuclear power plants and research reactors will be put under IAEA safeguards and
attended the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit.

National Security and defense policy

On 9 September 2013, Nawaz Sharif proposed a civil-military partnership and immediately
reconstituted the National Security Council with Sartaj Aziz as his National Security Advisor
(NSA). He also reconstituted the Cabinet Committee on National Security (C2NS), with military
representation in the political body. On 15 September, a roadside bomb killed Major-General
Sanaullah Khan, a lieutenant colonel, and another soldier in the Upper Dir district near the
Afghanistan border. On the same day, seven more soldiers were killed in four separate attacks.
Chairman joint chiefs General Khalid Shameem Wynne and chief of army staff General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani warned the government that the military would not allow the Taliban to
set conditions for peace.

Foreign policy
The United States temporarily stopped drone strikes in north-western Pakistan, and President
Donald Trump called Nawaz a "Terrific guy". On 3 December, Dawn reported that a US National
Defense Authorization Act was set to be approved by the US Congress which would recognize
Pakistan as a key strategic partner and pledge more than US$900 million in economic and other
assistance to the country. Nawaz visited London on 30 April 2014 and met David Cameron and
other officials, and delivered a keynote address at the Pakistan Investment Conference. On 2
April 2014, Pakistan will sell Jf17 Thunder jets to Saudi Arabia after the kingdom had given a
grant of US$1.5 billion to Pakistan in early 2014. AlMonitor reported on 15 March 2015 that the
Salman of Saudi Arabia wanted firm assurances from Nawaz that Pakistan would align itself
with Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Arab allies against Iran, especially in the proxy war underway in
Yemen.

Criticism
Nawaz Sharif was a prominent figure in Pakistan after his return to power in 2013. He was
praised by President Donald Trump and met with British Foreign Secretary William Hague and
Vladimir Putin. He also met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud
and supported the Saudi-led intervention in Bahrain. His daughter Maryam Nawaz is the current
Central Vice President of PML-N and is married to politician Muhammad Safdar Awan.

2016 Panama Papers leak

According to the Panama Papers, documents leaked in 2016 from law firm Mossack Fonseca,
Nawaz's family holds millions of dollars worth of property and companies in the UK and around
the world.[334] Although they do not name Nawaz Sharif or his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif,
they link in-laws of Shehbaz Sharif and children of Nawaz Sharif to numerous offshore
companies.

Challenges
 Since he was sworn in for a third term as prime minister in June 2013, Nawaz Sharif
faced a number of challenges to himself and his government – and almost all of them
from within. Though PML-N secured a majority in the polls five years ago and his
government performed well in terms of the economy and the overall security situation,
there were continuous challenges to his leadership from political opponents, egged on by
the security establishment.
 A year in power, the government was under siege, thanks to a sit-in opposite Parliament
organized by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan
Awami Tehreek. It lasted four months and only ended after a terror attack on an army-run
school in Peshawar in December 2014 that killed nearly 150 people.
 By that time, relations between Sharif and the military leadership had started to
deteriorate and there were suspicions the powerful army was behind the ‘dharna’ to put
pressure on the Sharif government, which had tried to adopt an independent foreign
policy.
 While the army launched a full-fledged military operation in the tribal areas in 2015, it
took the opportunity to expand its activities into other spheres as well. Then army chief
Gen Raheel Sharif rescued his mentor Pervez Musharraf from court cases and had him
flown out of Pakistan.
 A key bone of contention between the army and the civilian government was control of
foreign policy. The army did not take kindly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to
Lahore and Sharif’s peace efforts with Afghanistan and Iran.