Arbab Jehangir Khan Khalil (1 August 1936 – 16 October 2007) regarded as chief of the Khalil tribe, was a Pakistani politician hailed from

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a province of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the fourth largest province of Paki ...

, Pakistan. He served as the 8th elected (14th overall)

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

from 7 April 1985 to 29 May 1988 and then as the Leader of opposition in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly from 1989 to 1990. Electorally undefeated throughout his career, he also served as Federal Minister for Petroleum Resources, Housing and Works, Narcotics control and Senior Minister.

Early life and education

Arbab Jehangir Khan was born in 1936 to Nawab Arbab Sher Ali Khan in Tehkal

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

. He got a degree in law from the

University of Peshawar The University of Peshawar (; ; ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a public research university located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The university is one of the oldest universities in the provi ...

Personal life

His wife, Asma Arbab Alamgir, is a Pakistani politician who served as 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 ...

. His son

Arbab Alamgir Khan Arbab Alamgir Khan () is a Pakistani politician who served as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. Early life Khan was born on 1 July 1961 in Peshawar to a former Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arbab Jehangir Kh ...

was appointed Federal Minister for Communications in the cabinet of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Yousaf Raza Gillani Yusuf Raza Gilani (born 9 June 1952) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Pakistan from 2008 to 2012. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since 2024. Chairman Gilani served as the acti ...

. His nephew

Shehzad Arbab Muhammad Shehzad Arbab is a retired Pakistani civil servant who served as Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Establishment from August 2018 to 10 April 2022. Before his retirement from civil services, Arbab served in BPS-22 grade as the C ...

was a bureaucrat who ended his career as Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu Kashmir. He later joined

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. ...

and was appointed Special Assistant to

Prime Minister Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

. Arbab Jehangir Khan's elder brother was

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Dera Ismail Khan. He was the sixth of seven brothers, three of whom served in Pakistan Army one of them being Arbab Niaz Muhammad who was later appointed a Minister and the cricket stadium in peshawar is named after him.

Political career

Arbab Jehangir Khan started his political career in 1969. In 1970, he contested election for the first time and was elected to Provincial Assembly from

National Awami Party The National Awami Party (NAP) was the major left-wing political party in East and West Pakistan. It was founded in 1957 in Dhaka, erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), by Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Yar Mohammad Khan, through th ...

. In the 1977 general elections He secured his seat by winning the provincial assembly seat from

Pakistan People Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a centre-left political position, it is curr ...

and in 1985 elections he was sworn in as the 8th

of North-West-Frontier-Province now

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

. In 1988 he ran for the Provincial Assembly seat as an independent candidate continuing his winning streak. From 1990 and onwards he shifted his focus towards National politics securing the 1990, 1993 and 1997

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 ...

seat. A lawyer by profession, he earned the distinction of being electorally undefeated in every election he contested in his 32-year political career. Due to health issues, he retired from politics prior to the 2002 general elections. He held senior positions in all Pakistan's major political parties including

Pakistan Muslim League The Pakistan Muslim League (; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the centre-right platform in the country. The ''Muslim League'' (the original successor of the All-India Muslim ...

Awami National Party The Awami National Party (ANP; , ; lit. ''People's National Party'') is a Pashtun nationalist, secular and leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986 and its current president is Aimal Wali Khan, g ...

and

Pakistan People's Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a centre-left political position, it is cu ...

Death

Arabab Jehangir Khan died due to cardiac arrest on Tuesday, 16 October 2007 at the age of 71. Thousands gathered to offer his funeral in

. He was laid to rest in his family graveyard in Tehkal area of Peshawar.

References

External links