The Sharif family is a Pakistani political family of Punjabi Kashmiri background. They have played a prominent role in Pakistani politics, especially in Punjab, since the 1980s, the family held the leadership of the Islamic Jamhuri Ittihad; and has held the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League – N (PML–N) for most of the party's existence since 1993.
Originating in the Anantnag region of the Kashmir Valley, the family moved to Amritsar District, Punjab in the 1870s during the British Raj rule and settled in the village of Jati Umra around 1900. Following the partition of India in 1947, the Sharifs moved to the Jati Umra locality of Lahore, which they had named after the village of Amritsar.
The Sharifs belongs to the Bhat tribe and are of Kashmiri Brahmin ancestry. Muhammad Sharif, the father of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, migrated from Jati Umra, Amritsar District (now in Tarn Taran district, India, after the creation of Pakistan in 1947). He was a businessman who founded the Ittefaq Group and Sharif Group in 1939. Sharif's second youngest son, Shehbaz Sharif, is serving as the prime minister of Pakistan since since 2024.
Contents
Background
The Sharif family were blacksmiths in East Punjab before migrating to Pakistan. Mian Sharif established an iron foundry in Lahore and later founded the Ittefaq Group and Sharif Group. Sharif's son Nawaz Sharif served three terms as Prime Minister of Pakistan, and his other son Shehbaz Sharif has been serving his second term since 2024.
Family members
First Generation
Khuda Bakhsh Bhat; flower-seller in Amritsar and father of Ramzan Sharif
Ramzan Sharif; blacksmith worker; father of Muhammad Sharif
Third Generation
Mian Sharif, father of Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif.
Begum Shamim Akhtar, wife of Muhammad Sharif and mother of Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Abbas Sharif. She died on 22 November 2020.
Fourth Generation
Nawaz Sharif, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif, was the wife of Nawaz Sharif. She died in London in 2018 after battling cancer.
Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan and former Chief Minister of Punjab.
Begum Nusrat Shahbaz, first wife of Shahbaz Sharif.
Tehmina Durrani, second wife of Shahbaz Sharif.
Abbas Sharif, a Pakistani businessman and brother of Nawaz Sharif and Shabaz Sharif. He died on 11 January 2013, after slipping and falling on an electric heater, which electrocuted him and caused a heart attack.
Sabiha Abbas, wife of Abbas Sharif.
Fifth Generation
Hassan Nawaz Sharif, son of Nawaz Sharif, he lives in London.
Other relatives
Safdar Awan, husband of Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
Abid Sher Ali, nephew of Nawaz Sharif.
The Great Gama, grandfather of Kulsoom Nawaz.
Ishaq Dar, father-in-law of Asma Nawaz Sharif.
Ali Dar, husband of Asma Nawaz Sharif.
Mohsin Latif, nephew of Kalsoom Nawaz.
Bilal Yasin, nephew of Kalsoom Nawaz.
Shaikh Rohale Asghar, grandfather-in-law of Junaid Safdar.
Wealth
The Sharif family owns Ittefaq Group and Sharif Group. The village Jati Umrah in Lahore, is also partially owned by the Sharif family.
According to the book Capitalism's Achilles Heel by Raymond W Baker, former PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif made financial gains of $418 million during his two terms as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The book is a report on the corruption done by politics' most dominant mafias/families in history, which includes the Sharif family as well. It talks about how they accumulated their factories, properties and wealth.