Imran Khan became the first Pakistani prime minister to step down after losing a vote of no confidence in parliament. The drama covers weeks of machinations by the opposition aimed at unraveling the weak coalition formed by Khan around his party in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to become prime minister in 2018. Following are brief profiles of the main players in the epic: Sehbaz Sharif Sehbaz Sharif speaks to reporters outside Islamabad Supreme Court [File: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters] Sehbaz, the brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – who has never been barred from running for office and is currently in exile in Britain – is the main candidate to replace Khan. The 70-year-old is a heavy politician on his own, however, having served as chief minister of Punjab, the family’s power base, and now president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). A tough manager with a reputation for passionate outbursts, he is known for his revolutionary poetry in speeches and is considered a workaholic. It remains popular despite the noisy tabloid titles for many weddings and a real estate portfolio that includes luxury apartments in London and Dubai. Asif Ali Zardari Zardari becomes President of Pakistan in 2008 in a power-sharing deal with PML-N [File: Aamir Qureshi/AFP] Hailing from a wealthy Sid family, Zardari was best known for his playboy lifestyle until a arranged marriage saw him marry Benazir Bhutto shortly before becoming prime minister for the first time. He became involved in politics with an appetite, earning the nickname “Mr Ten Percent” for the alleged cuts he made from government contracts and was twice jailed on charges of corruption, drug trafficking and murder – though never tried. The 67-year-old became co-chair of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) after Bhutto’s assassination in 2007 and became president a year later in a power-sharing deal with the PML-N. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 33, is the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) [File: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters] The son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari is a political rights activist and became chairman of the PPP at the age of just 19 after the assassination of his mother. The 33-year-old, who studied in Oxford, is considered progressive, in the image of his mother, and has often spoken about the rights of women and minorities. With more than half of Pakistan’s population aged 22 and under, Bhutto’s knowledge of social media is a great success for young people, though he is often ridiculed for his poor knowledge of Urdu, the national language. Maulana Fazlur Rehman Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party never gathers enough support for power on its own, but is usually a key player in any government [File: Mian Khursheed/Reuters] Since beginning his political life as a hardliner, the Muslim leader has diminished his public image over the years with a flexibility that has led him to forge alliances with secular parties on the left and right of the spectrum. With the ability to mobilize tens of thousands of students in Islamic schools, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party never gathers enough support for power on its own, but is usually a key player in any government. His animosity towards Khan is deep, calling him a “Jew” in connection with his former marriage to Britain’s Jemima Goldsmith. Khan, in return, calls him “Mullah Diesel” for his alleged involvement in transplants involving fuel licenses.
