Ethnicity Kashmiri | Traditions Sunni Muslim | |
Current region Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan Place of origin Jati Umra, Amritsar, India Members Muhammad Sharif
Nawaz Sharif
Shahbaz Sharif
Kalsoom Nawaz
Tehmina Durrani
Hamza Shahbaz
Maryam Nawaz Estate Ittefaq Group
Raiwind Palace
Sharif Medical City
Hudaibiya Paper Mills | ||
The Sharif family (Urdu: شريف خاندان) is a prominent political family of Pakistan, based in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Along with the Bhutto's, the family has dominated for much of Pakistan's political history since 1983. The family is of Kashmiri-Punjabi origin, settled in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan and uses the title of Mian. Muhammad Sharif, the father of Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, migrated from Jati Umra, Amritsar, after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. He was a businessman who founded the Ittefaq Group in 1939 in Lahore.
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In Pakistani politics
The Sharif family has been actively involved in the politics since the nationalization of their factories during the régime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Nawaz Sharif is the incumbent prime minister of Islamic republic of Pakistan. He currently heads the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N), a center-right, conservative political party, the largest in Pakistan. Sharif previously served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999. Sharif rose to prominence as part of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's military regime in the 1980s under the wing of Governor of Punjab Ghulam Jilani Khan. He was appointed Chief Minister of Punjab by Zia in 1985. After Zia's death and Benazir Bhutto's election as prime minister in 1988, he developed an affiliation to Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), a right-wing alliance formed against Pakistan People's Party in 1988. Also in 1988, Nawaz Sharif was elected chief minister of the Punjab.Nawaz Sharif iS currently the Prime Minister of Pakistan June 2013-Current
Shahbaz Sharif is the current Chief Minister of the Punjab, and also held the position from 1997 to 1999.
The family has influence mainly in Punjab province and their third generation is also becoming involved in Pakistani politics.
List of family members
Other relatives
Wealth
The Sharif family owns Ittefaq Group, a multimillion-dollar steel conglomerate. In 2005, the Daily Pakistan reported that the family is the fourth wealthiest in Pakistan with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. The Sharif family expanded its steel business empire by employing state of the art technology. They also own the extravagant Raiwind Palace in Lahore.
Judiciary issues
In March 2000, three main cases were filed against the Sharif family in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills default case in Attock NAB Court. Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif were accused of misuse of authority and of wealth accumulation beyond their means. In addition to Senator Ishaq Dar, nine members of the Sharif family were named:
In 2008, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reopened cases of corruption and money laundering against the family in reference to its Raiwind assets, Hudaibiya Paper Mills and Ittefaq Foundry.
Ittefaq Group had obtained a loan totalling Rs 3.11 billion from eight different banks during 1982 and 1998. After selling four units the Group, a default loan-amount Rs 6 billion was recovered, but mark-up was yet to be recovered as per rules. On 7 November 2014, Lahore High Court (LHC), on the petition of a consortium led by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), directed Ittefaq to pay mark-up of Rs 3.5 billion against the loan from the consortium. However, the Sharif family's spokesman said that the group had already paid the mark-up and "the factual position was that all banks had been repaid hundred percent of the loan’s required amount", and "it was for the first time in the history of Pakistan that any family or industrial unit had returned its complete loan, along with its markup, without getting it waived at all."
In December 2000, 18 members of the family were exiled to Saudi Arabia, after a deal with the government of Pervez Musharraf.