Ittefaq Group

Ittefaq Group of Industries (Urdu: اتفاق ) ("Ittefaq" means "unity" ) is industrial group based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is owned by prominent Sharif family of Pakistan.

History

It was founded by Muhammad Sharif, father of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his six brothers, The Ittefaq Foundry established in 1939.

The new industrial units were set up with electrifying speed in the 1980's while Nawaz Sharif was the finance minister and later Chief Minister of Punjab province. Ittefaq Sugar Mills was set up in 1982, Brothers steel in 1983, Brother's Textile Mills in 1986, Ittefaq Textile units in 2-3 in 1987, Khalid Siraj Textile Mills in 1988.

During first Benazir govt when Nawaz Sharif was the uncrowned King of the powerful Punjab province, the group started work on Brothers Sugar Mills and Ramzan Sugar Mills which turned out to be the last project set up under the banner of Ittefaq. As soon as Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister in 1990, Mian Mohammad Sharif switched over to setting up projects independent of the other partners, thus laying the grounds for split.

It was said that when Nawaz Sharif became prime minister, the group took a decision to secure project loans from the foreign banks and only working capital was taken from the nationalized commercial banks. The project financing from foreign banks was ostensibly secured against the foreign currency deposits, a number of which were held in benamee accounts, as repeatedly claimed by Interior Minister Naseer Ullah Babar at his press conferences.

At a press conference in Islamabad, on August 3, 1989 Shahbaz Sharif was gave the assets of the group at Rs 3.6 billion, but the report of the Cooperative Scam Tribunal estimated the group assets in 1989, according to their own declaration at Rs 6 billion.

In 1992 when Salman Taseer, Information Secretary, PPP released an account of Nawaz govt's corruption in a booklet "The Plunder of Pakistan" a spokesman of House of Ittefaq said in a counter statement that the group has incurred loans worth Rs 4,420 million only from the commercial banks contrary to Salman Taseer 's claim of Rs 12 billion. According to the spokesman, the group comprised only 14 companies in its fold with assets of 6 billion.

H U Beg Committee, set up by Nawaz govt in 1990 to investigate the allegations of concentration of wealth had identified 19 companies in the House of Ittefaq with assets worth Rs 10 billion and for the purpose of ranking in this book. I have relied on the estimates of the H U Beg Committee. However at a press conference in Islamabad, on March 2, 1994, Khalid Siraj, a cousin of prime minister claimed that the assets of the seven brothers were valued at Rs 21 billion.

The units in Ittefaq as identified by H U Beg Committee included three listed companies, 12 unlisted public companies and 4 private limited companies.

The Friday Time issue of April 25, 1997 reported that the Sharif group of Mian Mohammad Sharif has started work on Kashmir Sugar Mills and Bashir Sugar Mills for which it was seeking hefty loans from commercial banks. Work is also in progress over a sprawling New Sharif Medical City, opposite the big residential farm of the Sharif family on the Rai Wind Road. The group is also working on Yousaf Aziz Sugar Mills at Kasur and another at Shah Kot.

According to agreement reached in Lahore High Court by members of the family sometime in 1996, the House of Ittefaq has split in two groups. The first comprised the families of Mian Mohammad Sharif, Mohammad Shafi, Barkat Ali, Yousaf Aziz and Idrees Bashir while the second group comprised the families of Meraj Din and Siraj Din. Members of the Ittefaq group are currently operating in three groups namely Sharif Group, Ittefaq Group and Haseeb Waqas Group. The three groups have only four companies listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) listed companies of Ittefaq Group:

#Ittefaq Textile Mills
#Brothers Textile Mills
#Khalid Siraj Textile Mills
#Haseeb Waqas Sugar

Charities

* Ittefaq Hospital

External links

* [http://www.ittefaqhospital.com.pk/intro.htm Ittefaq Hospital]

References