Mian Muhammad Sharif (Punjabi, Urdu: میاں محمد شریف; 18 November 1920 – 19 October 2004) was a Pakistani businessman who is known as the co-founder of Ittefaq Group and founder of Sharif Group. Two of his three sons, Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif, later became Prime Ministers of Pakistan.
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Early life and family
Sharif was born in 1920. After the Partition of British India in August 1947, he and his six brothers migrated to Lahore and settled in Gowal Mandi. They set up an iron-melting furnace in Landa bazaar, Lahore.
Sharif founded a small steel foundry on the Brandreth Road.
He was married to Shamim Akhtar, with whom he had three sons. All his children became politicians, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Abbas Sharif.
In 1985, he used his relations with President General Zia-ul-Haq to get his son, Nawaz Sharif, appointed as the Chief Minister of Punjab.
Arrest
In November 1994, he was arrested by Pakistani police for tax evasion of $2 million.