Qasim Khan Suri (; born 16 January 1969) 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. He served as the 19th

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan The deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan presides over the assembly whenever the speaker is absent or unable to perform his or her duties. The office has its roots in 1947 when the Deputy Speaker was addressed as the Deputy Pres ...

from 15 August 2018 to 16 April 2022. He had also been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till January 2023.

Early life and education

He was born in January 1969 in

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

to a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

family of the Sur tribe, a sub-clan of the Khiljis. The eldest among three brothers and three sisters, his father Rafique Ahmed Khan had a medicine business which Suri took over in 1997 after his death, becoming the managing director of Muhammadi Traders of Pharmaceutical Distributor Est, while his other source of income is agriculture. His mother is of

Urdu-speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi Belt, Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccanis, Deccani people of the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in south-central I ...

background. Suri received his early education from the Quetta Islamia School and enrolled in Federal Government College in 1988. He received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1990 and a master's degree in international relations in 1992, both from the University of Balochistan.

Political career

Suri have been associated with

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) since 1996 but became active member in 2007. He ran for the seat 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 ...

as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-259 (Quetta) 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 ...

but was unsuccessful. He received 16,006 votes and lost the seat to Mahmood Khan Achakzai. He was elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from NA-265 (Quetta-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 25,973 votes and defeated Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani. Following Suri's successful election, PTI nominated him for the

on 13 August 2018. On 15 August 2018, he was elected as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. He received 183 votes out of a total of 327, defeating his opponent, Asad Mehmood who secured 144 votes. On 27 September 2019, an election tribunal of Balochistan High Court nullified Suri's election and ordered fresh elections in the constituency, that resulted in his denotification. On 7 October 2019, however the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan (; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance witPart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it h ...

suspended the election tribunal's decision and ordered the ECP not to issue the election schedule for NA-265. On 3 April, as deputy speaker, Suri, dismissed a

no-confidence motion against Imran Khan In April 2022, a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan led to his removal as the prime minister of Pakistan. Based largely on the Westminster system of legislature, the prime minister commands confidence of the majority of the lower house of ...

, claiming that the alleged US involvement was against Article 5 of the

Constitution of Pakistan The Constitution of Pakistan ( ; ISO 15919, ISO: '' Āīn-ē-Pākistān''), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. The document guides Pakistan's law, political culture, and system. It sets out the state's outlin ...

. He resigned on 16 April 2022 to avoid the motion of no confidence against Imran Khan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suri, Qasim Khan Living people Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs Pashtun politicians Muhajir people Politicians from Quetta Pakistani businesspeople 1969 births University of Balochistan alumni Deputy speakers of the National Assembly of Pakistan