Party Pakistan Muslim League Succeeded by Mir Hazar Bijrani | Name Ahsan Iqbal Children Ahmed Iqbal Chaudhary Role Pakistani Politician Siblings Mustafa Kamal | |
 | ||
Parents Iqbal Ahmad Chaudhary, Nisar Fatima | ||
Ahsan iqbal in oxford pakistani politics and pml n strategy for the future part 1
Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary (Urdu: احسن اقبال چوہدری; born 28 March 1959) is a Pakistani politician who is the current Minister for Interior and Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, in office since August 2017 and September 2017, respectively. A leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N), Iqbal previously served as the Minister of Planning and Development of Pakistan and the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of Pakistan in the third Sharif's ministry and briefly held the portfolio of Minister of Minorities and Minister of Education of Pakistan in the Gillani ministry in 2008.
Contents
- Ahsan iqbal in oxford pakistani politics and pml n strategy for the future part 1
- Islamabad Ahsan Iqbal addresses press conference
- Family and education
- Political career
- References
Iqbal has been an elected member of the National Assembly of Pakistan non consecutively since 1993 representing constituency NA-117 (Narowal). He served as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan from 1998 to 1999 during the Sharif's second ministry with the title of Minister of State.
Islamabad: Ahsan Iqbal addresses press conference
Family and education
Iqbal was born on 28 March 1958 from a family with a political background. His mother, Nisar Fatima was the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan on reserved seats for women in Pakistani general election, 1985. Iqbal's maternal grandfather, Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Khan was member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly during the British Raj from 1927 to 1945.
Iqbal attended the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore to study mechanical engineering in 1976 from where he graduated with B.Sc in 1981.
In 1984, Iqbal attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from where he did MBA in 1986. Dawn reported that he also attended Government College Lahore, Georgetown University and Harvard University.
Political career
Iqbal 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.
Iqbal was sponsored by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in the right wing politics of Pakistan in the 1980s. In 1988, Iqbal joined Pakistan Muslim League (N).
In Pakistani general election, 1993, 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, Benazir Bhutto.
He was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly for the second time in Pakistani general election, 1997. when his party PML-N won clear majority in National Assembly for the first time in the history of Pakistan, Iqbal 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. Iqbal continued on the positions allotted to him till the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état in which then Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, overthrew elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his existing elected government. Dawn reported that on Iqbal's initiative Pakistan's first national IT policy was formulated.
In Pakistani general election, 2002, he lost the National Assembly seat. During the Musharraf rule, Iqbal taught Management at the Mohammad Ali Jinnah University in Islamabad from 2000 to 2007. Iqbal is considered a loyalist of Nawaz Sharif who kept the PML-N alive during the Musharraf rule.
In Pakistani general election, 2008, Iqbal 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, their ministers resigned six weeks into the newly formed PPP-led coalition government.
In 2011, Iqbal was elected as Deputy Secretary General of PML-N.
In Pakistani general election, 2013, Iqbal was made part of PML-N’s central parliamentary board tasked with selecting candidates for the election. Iqbal 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, Iqbal was appointed as the United Nations Development Programme’s ‘champion minister’ from the Asia Pacific region in recognition of his efforts to promote the sustainable development goals.
He had ceased to hold ministerial office in July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Panama Papers case decision. Following the election of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Iqbal 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.