Marriage of Convenience

How the country’s elite enhances its power and influence through political marriages

In 1968, Dr Mahbubul Haq, the then chief economist of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, identified 22 Pakistani families who controlled 66% of the industrial and 87% of the banking assets.

“These families have become both the Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry for the private sector,” he had noted.

Lawrence J White, in his 1974 book “Industrial Concentration and Economic Power in Pakistan” expanded the number of families to 42. In a special pre-election issue, The Herald, a Pakistani magazine, later put the number of the families dominating electoral politics in Pakistan at 5,972.

There might be some disagreement about the exact number of such families but most writers agree that a small elite controls the bulk of the country’s industrial and financial assets. Many of these families are also powerful landowners and their influence is not restricted to just industry and banking.

Members of these influential families which dominate the Senate, the National Assembly, the provincial assemblies and government ministries also enhance their power and influence by forming new alliances through marriages.

Incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif married to his cousin Nusrat, a daughter of his uncle Mian Muhammad Shafi. In 1993, Shehbaz Sharif married to Nargis Khosa, a sister of Khosa brothers including former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa, former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general Tariq Khosa and former principal secretary to the prime minister Nasir Khosa.

Former CJP Asif Khosa is married to a daughter of former CJP Justice Naseem Hassan Shah.

Former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is married to the sister of Sharif brothers.

Moreover, one daughter of Nawaz Sharif – Asma Nawaz is also married to Ali Dar, the son of Ishaq Dar. Junaid Safdar, the grandson of Nawaz Sharif and the son of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, is married to Ayesha Rehman, a daughter of Saifur Rehman, the former chief of the now defunct Ehtesab Bureau

The Chaudhrys of Gujrat are one of the most successful political families in Punjab, thanks to a number of factors including their political marriages.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and incumbent Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi are cousins who are also married to each other’s sisters. Shujaat has served as the prime minister while Elahi as the Punjab chief minister also during Gen Musharraf’s era.

One of the daughters of Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, the father of Shujaat, is married to Major (retd) Tahir Saddiq, who comes from a successful political family from Attock district in northern Punjab.

Both Tahir Saddiq’s father, Sardar Sadiq Khan, and mother, Begum Sadiq, were lawmakers. His son, Zain Elahi and daughter Eman Waseem were also elected as members of the National Assembly.

One of Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi’s younger sons, Chaudhry Shafaat Hussain, is married to the daughter of Gul Hammed Khan Rokri, the son of Ghulam Haidar Khan Niazi, who is from a prominent political family of Mianwali district.

A third son of Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi is Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain who is married to the daughter of Akhtar Nawaz Khan, a former provincial minister from Haripur district.

Chaudhry Salik Hussain, son of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, is in an incumbent federal cabinet. Moonis Elahi, son of Pervaiz Elahi, is an MNA and Hussain Elahi, son of Wajahat Hussain, is also a sitting MNA.

The story of the Malik family of Lahore is also quite interesting.

Pervaiz Malik was an MNA of the PML-N from Lahore till his death whereas his wife Shaista Pervaiz Malik and his son Ali Pervaiz Malik are also sitting MNAs.  Ali Pervaiz Malik is married to Sehar Zareen Bandial, daughter of sitting Chief Justice Pakistan Mr Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

Pervaiz Malik was the brother of former Attorney General for Pakistan Malik Muhammad Qayyum. Their sister Yasmin Rehman had also served as an MNA on a reserved seat.

Leaders of various political parties in South Punjab are also not different. They fight electoral battles against each but are also interconnected with each through marriages.

Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s brother Syed Ahmed Mujtaba and son Abdul Qadir Gilani were elected as members of the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly respectively when he was the premier. Gilani’s second son Musa is a sitting MPA in Punjab at the moment.

Former Punjab governor Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood and former federal minister Jahangir Khan Tareen are also the first cousins of the wife of Yousaf Raza Gilani. Similarly, late Pir Pagara was the uncle of both Gilani and Makhdoom.

Jahangir Khan Tareen is married to the sister of Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood.

Humayun Akhtar, former federal minister and son of former DG ISI Let General Akhtar Abdur Rehman, is the cousin of Jahangir Khan Tareen and former finance minister Shoukat Tareen.

Daughter of media mogul Mir Shakilur Rehman is married to Qasim Humayun, son of Humayun Akhtar Khan. A sister of Mir Shakilur Rehman is married to the brother of former CJP Jawwad S Khawaja.

Shafqat Mahmood of the PTI is the cousin of the PPP’s Zaka Ashraf who had served as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Ishrat Ashraf, sister of Zaka Ashraf, is married to PML-N’s senior leader and former deputy speaker of the National Assembly Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal Gujjar.

Gujjar’s wife and daughter have been members of the Punjab Assembly on reserved seats. Gujjar is also a cousin of Shafqat Mahmood.

Former Senate chairman and senior PPP leader Farooq H Naek and incumbent Defence Minister Khawaja Asif are the maternal cousins. The wives of both the politicians are real sisters.