Ahsan Iqbal
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Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary (; born 28 March 1959) is a
Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...
politician currently holding the position of Federal Minister of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives and Inter Provincial Coordination. He is also the Secretary General of the PMLN and has been a member of the
National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...
since 29 February 2024. Previously, Chaudhary served as a member of the National Assembly during various terms: from August 2018 to August 2023, from 2008 to May 2018, and from 1993 to 1999. He held ministerial positions in several cabinets. He served as the Federal Minister for Planning and Development from 19 April 2022 to 10 August 2023 in the PDM government. From 2017 to May 2018, he served as both the Minister for Interior and Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms in the Abbasi cabinet. In the third Sharif's ministry, he held the positions of the Minister of Planning and Development of Pakistan and the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of Pakistan and briefly served as the Minister of Minorities and Minister of Education of Pakistan in the Gillani ministry in 2008. He also assumed the role of the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan from 1998 to 1999 during the Sharif's second ministry. Moreover, he served as federal minister for planning and development from 19 April 2022 to 10 August 2023.


Family and education

According to PILDAT, Chaudhary was born on 28 March 1959. According to ''
The News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/ Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London th ...
'', he was born on 28 September 1958. Belonging to a Punjabi
Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...
family, his maternal grandfather Chaudhry Abdul Rahman Khan was a member of the
Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab (India), Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 M ...
during the
British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...
, later the family had to move out of
Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...
, now in Indian Punjab, due to the 1947 partition. His mother Nisar Fatima was the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan on reserved seats for women in the 1985 Pakistani general election. His brother Mustafa Kamal has served as the chairman of the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA). Chaudhary received his early education from the
PAF College Sargodha PAF College Sargodha is a Pakistan Air Force operated boarding school located in Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. It was established in 1953. Founded as a feeding school for Pakistan Air Force Academy, it is now a public school since 1990 funded ...
. He attended the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore to study mechanical engineering in 1976 from where he graduated with BSc in 1981. In 1984, Chaudhary attended the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...
from where he did
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
in 1986. ''Dawn'' reported that he also attended Government College Lahore,
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
and
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.


Political career


Jamat-i-Islami

Chaudhary started politics as president of the student union of University of Engineering and Technology. He was then associated with Islami Jamiat Tulaba, student wing of the right wing Jamat-i-Islami.


Pakistan Muslim League (N)

In the 1993 Pakistani general election, he became member of the National Assembly for the first time after winning constituency NA-117 of Narowal. In 1993, he served as Policy and Public Affairs Assistant to then
Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Cabinet of Pakistan, cabinet, desp ...
. He was re-elected as the member of the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
for the second time in the 1997 Pakistani general election. when his party PML-N won clear majority in National Assembly for the first time in the history of
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, Chaudhary played his role in several key government positions. He was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan with the title of Minister of State, chairman Pakistan Engineering Council and was also a chairman for the National Steering Committees on Information Technology and IQM and Productivity. Chaudhary continued on the positions allotted to him till the
1999 Pakistani coup d'état The 1999 military takeover in Pakistan was a bloodless ''coup d'état'' initiated by the military staff at the Joint Staff HQ working under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharr ...
in which then Chief of Army Staff,
Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...
, overthrew elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his existing elected government. ''Dawn'' reported that on Chaudhary's initiative Pakistan's first national IT policy was formulated. In the
2002 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 10 October 2002 to elect the 12th National Assembly and four Provincial Assemblies. The elections were held under the military government of Pervez Musharraf. The two mainstream parties, Pakistan ...
, he lost the National Assembly seat. During the Musharraf rule, Chaudhary taught management at the Mohammad Ali Jinnah University in Islamabad from 2000 to 2007. Chaudhary is considered a loyalist of Nawaz Sharif who kept the PML-N alive during the Musharraf rule. In the 2008 Pakistani general election, Chaudhary was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly for the third time. He briefly served as the Minister for Education of Pakistan with an additional portfolio of Minister of Minorities' Affairs in the Gillani ministry. But after PML-N decided to sit on opposition benches due to a disagreement with PPP related to the reinstatement of the judges dismissed by former President Pervez Musharraf in 2007, he resigned six weeks into the newly formed PPP-led coalition government. In 2011, Chaudhary was elected as Deputy Secretary General of PML-N. In the
2013 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the List of members of the 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, National Assembly and the four Subdivisions of Pakistan, Pr ...
, Chaudhary was made part of PML-N's central parliamentary board tasked with selecting candidates for the election. Chaudhary was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly for the fourth time in 2013 general election. He was appointed as the Minister of Planning and Development as well the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of Pakistan. In February 2016, Chaudhary was appointed as the
United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
's 'champion minister' from the Asia Pacific region in recognition of his efforts to promote the
Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
. In July 2017, the federal cabinet, which included Chaudhary was disbanded following the resignation of Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...
after the Panama Papers case (Pakistan) decision. Following the election of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Chaudhary was inducted into the federal cabinet of Abbasi and was appointed Minister for Interior for the first time. On 16 September 2017, he was given the additional charge of
Ministry of Planning and Development The Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives (, abbreviated as MoPD) is headed by the Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives, who must be a member of Parliament of Pakistan. The minister is also deputy chairman of P ...
. In November 2017, he was criticised by the
Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan The chairman of the Senate of Pakistan () is the president-chair of the Senate of Pakistan. ...
Raza Rabbani for not taking
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
in confidence with regards to the crackdown against the 2017 Tehreek-e-Labaik protest which led to resignation of Minister for Law and Justice, Zahid Hamid. Upon the dissolution of the National Assembly on the expiration of its term on 31 May 2018, Chaudhry ceased to hold the office as Federal Minister for Interior and Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform. He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-78 (Narowal-II) in the
2018 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 25 July 2018 to elect the members of the 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...
. He received 159,651 votes and defeated Abrar-ul-Haq, a candidate of
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. ...
(PTI). He was arrested on 23 December 2019 by the NAB, over the alleged Narowal sports complex corruption charges. He was eventually released after 90 days in custody, as the NAB failed to come up with a case against him. He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from NA-76 Narowal-II in the
2024 Pakistani general election General elections, originally scheduled to be held in 2023, were held in Pakistan on 8 February 2024 to elect the members of the List of members of the 16th National Assembly of Pakistan, 16th National Assembly of Pakistan, National Assembly. The ...
. He received 137,042 and defeated Javaid Safdar Kahlon, a
Independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...
, (PTI) Supported
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. ...
.


Assassination attempt

In May 2018, Chaudhary was shot and wounded at a political rally in his home constituency Narowal in an apparent assassination attempt. He was airlifted from Narowal to Lahore for surgery where he was said to be in stable condition. The attacker, found to be linked with Tehreek-e-Labaik, was arrested from the spot. In his police statement he confessed that he tried to assassinate Chaudhry on the issue of the blasphemy laws.


Writings

He has written
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
s for ''
The News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/ Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London th ...
'', an English-language daily newspaper.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iqbal, Ahsan 1959 births Living people University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore alumni Government College University, Lahore alumni Wharton School alumni Harvard University alumni Pakistan Muslim League (N) politicians Nawaz Sharif administration Education ministers of Pakistan Politicians from Lahore Pakistani MNAs 1993–1996 Pakistani MNAs 1997–1999 Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013 Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018 Pakistani MNAs 2024–2029 Interior ministers of Pakistan Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 Pakistani prisoners and detainees PAF College Sargodha alumni