Fayaz-ul-Hasan Chohan 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 who had been a member of the

Provincial Assembly of the Punjab The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, also known as the Punjab Assembly, is the supreme legislative body of Punjab, a province of Pakistan. It convenes at the Assembly Building in Lahore, the capital of Punjab. It is a unicameral legislature o ...

from August 2018 till January 2023. He was also th
Official Spokesperson to the Chief Minister of Punjab
an
President of the Directorate General Public Relations
He has previously served as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information, Culture, Colonies and Prisons from 27 August 2018 till 30 March 2020.

Early life and education

He was born on 21 May 1970 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

capital of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, Pakistan in a Chohan family of the

Gujjar The Gurjar (or Gujjar, Gujar, Gurjara) are an agricultural ethnic community, residing mainly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic ...

tribe. He received the degree of

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the University of Punjab, Lahore, in 1994 and is a

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

by profession.

Political career

Associated with the

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami is an Islamist fundamentalist movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamist author and theorist Syed Abul Ala Maududi, who was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is considered one of the most influential Isla ...

, he was elected to the

as a candidate of

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal (MMA; Urdu: , ) is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, Religion in Pakistan, religious, and right-wing parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui (the founder of Tehreek e Islami) proposed such a ...

(MMA) from PP-14 (Rawalpindi-XIV) in the

2002 Punjab provincial election Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Punjab to elect the 14th Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on 10 October 2002, alongside nationwide general elections and three other provincial elections in Sindh, Balochistan and North- ...

. He received 13,738 votes and defeated Rashid Naseem Abbasi, a candidate of

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

(PPP). From 12 August 2003 till dissolution of assembly in 2007, he was the Chairperson of Standing Committee on Social Welfare, Women Development and Bait-ul-Maal and member of Standing Committee on Revenue, Relief & Consolidation. He ran for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as a candidate of

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League" (officially registered as the Pakistan Muslim League) is a political party in Pakistan. As of the 2024 parliamentary e ...

(PML-Q) from PP-14 (Rawalpindi-XIV) in the

2008 Punjab provincial election Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Punjab to elect the 15th Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on 18 February 2008, alongside nationwide general elections and three other provincial elections in Sindh, Balochistan and North ...

but was unsuccessful. He received 4,166 votes and lost the seat to Hanif Abbasi. He was re-elected to the

as a candidate of the

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) from PP-17 Rawalpindi-XII in the

2018 Punjab provincial election Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab on to elect the members of the 17th Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on 25 July 2018, alongside nationwide 2018 Pakistani general election, general elections a ...

. He received 40,919 votes and defeated Raja Abdul Hanif. On 27 August 2018, he was inducted into the provincial Punjab cabinet of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and was appointed as Provincial Minister of Punjab for information and culture. He resigned as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information and Culture on 5 March 2019 after intense criticism over his offensive remarks against the Hindu community. On 5 July 2019 he was re-inducted into Provincial Punjab Cabinet of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and was appointed as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Colonies. On 2 December 2019, he was again appointed as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information and Culture. On 2 December 2020, he was removed from his post of Minister of Punjab for Information and Culture. In November 2020, he was appointed as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Prisons. He served as th
Official Spokesperson to the Chief Minister of Punjab
an
President of the Directorate General Public Relations
Government of Punjab. He is running for a seat in the Provincial Assembly from PP-17 Rawalpindi-XII as a candidate of the IPP in the

2024 Punjab provincial election Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Punjab on 8 February 2024 to elect a new provincial legislature. On 5 August 2023, the results of the 2023 digital census were approved by the Council of Common Interests headed by Pr ...

. On 23 May 2023, Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan decided to leave the

(PTI) party.

Views

Shortly after becoming Provincial Minister of Punjab for information and culture in August 2018, he stirred a controversy when he used obscene language against TV channel staff during an interview on 30 August 2018. The same day, he was videotaped passing "vulgar and derogatory misogynistic remarks" against female artists of

Lollywood Lollywood is Pakistan's film industry, which has served as the base for both Urdu- and Punjabi-language film production. Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since independence in 1947. However, with the Urdu film hub largel ...

. Both incidents earned him severe criticism. Fayyaz resigned in March 2019 from the Punjab provincial cabinet after some of his remarks in the wake of India-Pakistan conflict in 2019. In order to highlight how exalted his motherland Pakistan is vis-a-vis India, he downgraded Indians using vulgar and derogatory comments. This was particularly derogatory to the Hindu community of his country. He was asked for a clarification from Pakistan Punjab Province Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and 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 ...

. Chohan apologised for his derogatory remarks and insisted that his remarks were aimed at Indian armed forces and Indian government and not against any Hindu community. Though Chohan apologized, he had to resign from the cabinet. Later on, he served as provincial information minister for Punjab government until his removal on 2 November 2020 and appointment as Minister for colonies.Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan removed as Punjab's information minister
Geo News, 2 November 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chohan, Fayyaz ul Hassan Living people 1970 births Punjab MPAs 2002–2007 Punjab MPAs 2018–2023 Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan politicians Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPAs (Punjab) Provincial ministers of Punjab Pakistani Islamists University of the Punjab alumni Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party politicians Politicians from Rawalpindi Muslim Gujjars