Muhammad Shoaib (); 1907–13 May 1976) was a Pakistani politician who served as the

finance minister of Pakistan The Minister of Finance of Pakistan (Urdu: 'Wazīr-ē-Khazana') is a leading cabinet member who heads the Ministry of Finance in the Government of Pakistan. The Minister is responsible each year for presenting the federal government's budget to ...

from 15 November 1958 to 8 June 1962 and again from 15 December 1962 to 23 March 1965.

Early life and career

He was born in 1907 at Amilo,

Azamgarh Azamgarh is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Azamgarh division, which consists of Ballia, Mau and Azamgarh districts. Azamgarh is situated on the bank of Tamsa River (Tons). It is located east of the ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. Muhammad Shoaib is widely criticized for disapproving the

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) () is a federally funded independent governmental agency, concerned with research and development of nuclear power, promotion of nuclear science, energy conservation and the peaceful use of nuclear techn ...

's agreement with General Electric of Canada to build a 137 MW Nuclear power plant in Pakistan.

Munir Ahmad Khan Munir Ahmad Khan (; 20 May 1926 – 22 April 1999), , was a Pakistani nuclear engineer who is credited, among others, with being the "father of the atomic bomb program" of Pakistan for their leading role in developing their nation's nuclear we ...

(then IAEA scientist) urged him for support but his diplomatic decisions created serious delay in Nuclear technology development of the country. He resigned his position on 23 March 1965 as Finance Minister to join the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

as an advisor. He was associated with the World Bank for 20 years and had retired in 1975.

Personal life

Muhammad Shoaib was married to Iffat Ara and they had a daughter named

Nafis Sadik Nafis Sadik (18 August 1929 – 14 August 2022) was a Pakistani physician, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General with additional responsibilities as Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia, and former executive director of the United Nations Po ...

, a world population control activitist.

Death

Muhammad Shoaib died at his home near Washington, D.C. on 13 May 1976 at age 70.

References

1907 births 1976 deaths Indian emigrants to Pakistan Ministers of finance of Pakistan Pakistani financiers Politicians from Karachi People from Azamgarh district {{Pakistan-politician-stub