Mian Mansha: building a business empire amid social and political turmoil

The recent turbulence at the heart of Pakistan’s political machine raised significant but nuanced questions for Mian Mansha. The two individuals publicly responsible for ousting Pervez Musharraf as president – former premier Nawaz Sharif, and Asif Ali Zardari, the current president and widower of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto – are also prominent members of the country’s rich list. Zardari, second in the rankings, is worth an estimated $1.8 billion, while Sharif, ousted as premier in 1999 by Musharraf, is worth $1.4 billion (but possibly as much as five times that tally), largely thanks to his shareholding in the Lahore-based Ittefaq Group, founded by Sharif’s father, Muhammad.