Nawaz Sharif PML-N third term — CPEC launch and IMF stabilisation (Pakistan)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Centre-right business-establishment-orthodoxy programme from a Punjab-based industrial-mercantile party returning to power after a 2008-2013 PPP interregnum, combining (i) IMF-led macro- stabilisation — the $6.64bn Extended Fund Facility (Sep 2013) that pulled foreign reserves from under 2 weeks of import cover to ~5 months, disinflation from ~8% to ~4%, and fiscal-deficit narrowing from 8.2% to 4.6% of GDP via GST rate widening and administrative measures; (ii) the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor ($46bn initial envelope announced April 2015, later expanded to ~$62bn), front-loaded on energy (coal-fired Sahiwal, Port Qasim, LNG regasification terminals, hydro) to resolve the 12-18h/day load-shedding that had constrained industrial output for a decade; (iii) a reconciliation-then-rupture relationship with the military establishment, close coordination during Operation Zarb-e-Azb (Jun 2014-), the North Waziristan counter-terrorism operation displacing ~1m civilians and substantially reducing TTP operational tempo, but civil-military tensions over Dawn Leaks 2016 and the Panama Papers reference. Secondary policy content: GIDC gas- infrastructure-development-cess litigation, power-sector circular- debt management, Metro Bus / Orange Line Lahore urban transit, National Action Plan on terrorism (Dec 2014), Benazir Income Support Programme continuation from the PPP era without structural redesign. Coherence line: stabilisation + infrastructure + security under military partnership, ended by Supreme Court disqualification on 28 July 2017 (Panama Papers verdict) rather than electoral defeat. Popularity: 2013 election 32.8% vote / 166 directly-elected NA seats (majority with reserved seats); approval strong in Punjab through 2015, eroded 2016-17 under Panama Papers and Dawn Leaks controversies.