Key stances

• Believes in a policy of non-confrontation with state institutions — the military and the judiciary, in particular.
• Regarded as pro-establishment.
• Has styled himself as a conservative, right-of-centre politician.
• Has been a critic of US policy on Pakistan, though members of his own family are US nationals.
• Had opposed Nawaz's decision to seek a judicial commission to investigate the Panama Papers case.
• Though he acknowledges military involvement in Pakistan's politics, he believes it to be a matter to be worked out in private.
• Refuses to remain in the PML-N under the leadership of Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shahbaz
• Says Nawaz was made party leader even though he was not eligible.
• Announces he will contest the upcoming elections as an independent, saying: "The party [PML-N] has issued tickets to political orphans."