Sharif family
The Sharif family is one of the two most important clans in Pakistani politics and business. It is politically more right-wing and close to the Pakistani military and Islamism , while its political opponents - the Bhutto - Zardari families - are more left-wing. The Islamic-conservative Muslim League is dominated by the Sharif family.
The most important Sharifs of the last decades are
- Mian Muhammad Sharif , founder of the Ittefaq industrial group , and two of his sons
- Nawaz Sharif , Pakistan's Prime Minister 1990–1993, 1997–1999 and 2013–2017
- Shahbaz Sharif , Chief Minister of the most populous province of Punjab.
They are Sunnis with great influence among the Punjabi and in the economy, while the Bhuttos are partly Shiite .
The Sharif family was originally a non-politically active family of business people. The decisive impetus to go into politics was the extensive nationalization of extensive family property during the reign of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s. After losing their industrial empire, Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif entered politics with the aim of regaining lost family property. They joined the oppositional conservative Muslim League - probably more out of opportunism than out of genuine conviction. After Bhutto's overthrow in the 1977 coup, the Sharifs got their expropriated former possessions back.
Web links
- Global Security.org, The Sharif family
Individual evidence
- ^ Mazhar Abbas: From entry to exit: The politics of Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif. geo.tv, April 14, 2018, accessed on July 7, 2018 (English).