Zahid Hamid (born 24 October 1947) is a Pakistani politician, and lawyer. A member of

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) The Pakistan Muslim League (N) or (PML(N)) is a centre-right, conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate and the largest in the National Assembly. The party was founded in 1993, when a num ...

, Hamid previously served as the Minister for Law and Justice and Minister of Climate Change in the

Third Sharif ministry Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

between 2015 and 2017. He briefly served as the Minister of Law and Justice in June 2013 before being appointed Minister of Science and Technology from June 2013 to November 2014. He again served as Minister for Law and Justice under Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi from August 2017 until he resigned in November 2017. Hamid had 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 ...

from 2002 to May 2018.

Family and education

Hamid was born on 24 October 1947 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 ...

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 ...

, to Hamid Nawaz, a two-time MNA who served in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

and retired as a

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

in 1975 and later served in

foreign service Foreign Service may refer to: * Diplomatic service, the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country * United States Foreign Service, the diplomatic service of the United States government **Foreign Service ...

tenured as diplomat in various countries. Hamid's brother

Shahid Hamid Shahid Hamid (Punjabi, ) is a Pakistani lawyer and former politician who served as the Governor of Punjab from 11 March 1997 to 18 August 1999, during Nawaz Sharif's second term in office as Prime Minister. He was affiliated with the Pakistan M ...

, served as Governor of Punjab in 1997 and was senior leader in

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 ...

. After graduating from local school, Hamid attended the

Punjab University Punjab University may refer to: India * Punjab Agricultural University, a state agricultural university in Ludhiana, Punjab * I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, a state university in Kapurthala, Punjab * Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Techn ...

where he studied law. In 1971, he graduated with a

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. For higher studies, Hamid went to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to attend the

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He graduated with a BA with

honours Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valo ...

in Philosophy and worked on the post-graduate studies. He gained a MA degree where his work contained the fundamentals of

philosophy of law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. Reportedly, he received his BA Honours and MA from Cambridge University. In addition, Hamid has attended the seminars on

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

at the

Business school A business school is a higher education institution or professional school that teaches courses leading to degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, s ...

of the

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 ...

; and further specialised in law from

International Development Law Organization The International Development Law Organization (IDLO) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the promotion of the rule of law. With a joint focus on the promotion of rule of law and development, it works to empower people and commun ...

based in Rome, Italy. He is a lawyer by profession.

Political career

In 1970, Hamid passed the CSS exam to join the

Central Superior Services The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of ...

(CSS) where he worked with the

provincial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, o ...

but resigned in 1978 from the CSS to start career in politics. He set up and managed two industrial units in the food sector from 1978 to 1988. Hamid started his career as professional lawyer and eventually becoming a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In the 1990s, he established the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

authorised by 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 ...

in 1997 and appointed the first

Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the

until being dismissed by General

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 ...

after staging a

self-coup A self-coup, also called an autocoup () or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters. The le ...

in 1999. He ran for the seat of National Assembly in 1997 election as PPP candidate but was unsuccessful. Following the military takeover, Hamid defected to the PML(N)'s

splinter group A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

led by Shuja'at Hussain, and successfully participated in NA-114 constituency during the

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

held nationwide in 2002. From 2004 to 2007, he tenured as

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

Investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

and

Privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

; in 2008, he had been elevated as the

Minister for Law The Ministry of Law (MinLaw; ; zh, 律政部; ) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for the advancement in access to justice, the rule of law, the economy and society through policy, law and services. Organisational struc ...

. In 2008, Hamid joined the PML(N). Between 2008 and 2013, he was active member of the PML-N in National Assembly during when the party was in opposition. In 2013, Hamid participated in the

2013 Pakistani general elections 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 ...

and elected as member of National Assembly from his constituency NA-114. He was appointed

Law Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the 'prime minister', 'pre ...

in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights, but later he was reassigned to Science ministry. Due to the treason trial of

. Hamid abruptly resigned from the Science ministry after the special court inducted him on a Musharraf treason trial. On hearing the court's decision, Hamid tendered his resignation to Prime Minister

. In November 2015 he was made Minister of Climate Change and in 2016, Hamid was given the additional portfolio of the Minister of Law and Justice. He had ceased to hold ministerial office in July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the disqualification of Prime Minister

by 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 ...

Panama Papers case The Panama Papers case (officially titled ''Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi v. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif''), or the Panamagate case, was a 2017 landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that disqualified Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakista ...

decision. Following the election of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Prime Minister of Pakistan in August 2017, he was inducted into the federal cabinet of Abbasi. He was appointed federal Minister of Law and Justice. He stepped down from the ministerial office of Minister for Law and Justice in November 2017, following the

2017 Tehreek-e-Labaik protest 2017 Faizabad sit-in was organized by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). It started a protest on November 8, 2017, and set up camp at the Faizabad Interchange contesting changes in the ''Elections Bill 2017'' in which the word ''oath'' changed to ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamid, Zahid 1947 births Living people Pakistani Muslims Politicians from Lahore Lawyers from Lahore Pakistani lawyers Pakistani civil servants Pakistani industrialists Law ministers of Pakistan Pakistan Muslim League (Q) MNAs Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNAs Pakistani MNAs 2002–2007 Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013 Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018 University of the Punjab alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Nawaz Sharif administration Politicians from Sialkot Government ministers of Pakistan