Chaudhry Abid Raza (; born 2 September 1972) is a Pakistani politician. He had been a member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

from August 2018 till August 2023, and from June 2013 to May 2018.

Early life and education

Abid Raza was born on 2 September 1972 in

Kotla Arab Ali Khan Kotla Arab Ali Khan ( ur, کوٹلہ ارب علی خان) is a town in Pakistan. The town is located at 32°51'05N 74°04'20E and is situated near the border with Azad Kashmir and Punjab, Pakistan. Kotla Arab Ali Khan is the Union Council -99 of ...

Kharian Kharian ( ur, ), is a city located within the Gujrat District of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Kharian is the headquarters of Kharian Tehsil. According to 2017 Census of Pakistan, it has a population of about 87,419. It is known as Litt ...

Gujrat District Gujrat ( Punjabi and ur, ), is a district of Punjab Province in Pakistan. It is bounded on the northeast by Mirpur, on the northwest by the River Jhelum, which separates it from Jhelum District, on the east and southeast by the Chenab Ri ...

. His father was elected chairman UC Kotla in the 60s, his family being well-known in local politics. He belongs to a

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

Gujjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

family with

Deobandi Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, R ...

affiliation. In terms of education, he has a Shahadat-ul-Almia degree, considered an equivalent to an MA in Arabic and

Islamic Studies Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...

, while by profession he's a

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

trader.

Political career

Militant politics

He has been handed down a death sentence through an anti-terror act in 1998, for murdering six peoples in an attempt to assassinate Ghulam Sarwar Bhooch, the nizam of Gujrat and a family rival, as well as having links with

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; ur, ) or "Army of Jhangvi", is a Deobandi Sunni supremacist, terrorist and jihadist militant organisation based in Afghanistan. The organisation operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan and is an offshoot of anti-Shia ...

and

Sipah-e-Sahaba Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, , Guardians of the Prophet's Companions), renamed to Millat-e-Islamia, is a Islamist organisation in Pakistan, which also functioned as a political party. It broke away from the main Deobandi Sunni organisation Ja ...

, while in 2003 he was accused of helping

Amjad Farooqi Amjad Farooqi (; – September 26, 2004), alias Amjad Hussain, was a Pakistani militant who operated in Indian-administered Kashmir, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Background Farooqi was believed to have been involved in the 1995 ...

, an Islamist who planned to kill

Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

. He denied all these allegations and connections with militant outfits, while he didn't get the death sentence because he spent five years in jail and was released after reconciling with the opposing party, as per

Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

Mainstream politics

Raza began his political career with

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

(PPP) where he served in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab until 2008. His family joined

PML-Q The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ur, ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League") is a Conservative nationalist political party in Pakistan. As of the 2018 parliamentary election, it has a re ...

in 2003. He joined

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Teh ...

(PML-N) in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Hamza Shahbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 6 September 1974) is a Pakistani politician, who is current Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, in office since 20 October, 2022, He served in this position from ...

is supposed to be the one who pushed his inclusion in the PML-N despite the controversies, "to appease the Kotlas." He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-107 (Gujrat-IV) in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. He received 94,196 votes and defeated Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas, a candidate of

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

(PTI). He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-71 (Gujrat-IV) in

2018 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Wednesday, 25 July 2018 to elect the members of 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...

. He received 88,588 votes and defeated Muhammad Ilyas Chaudhry, a candidate of PTI.

See more

List of Deobandis Deobandis are the followers of the Deobandi movement, which originated in Deoband, India in the mid-19th century. The movement emphasizes a strict adherence to Islamic law and traditional Islamic scholarship, particularly in the areas of hadith an ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raza, Chaudhry Abid Living people Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNAs Pakistani people convicted of murder Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018 1957 births Deobandis People from Gujrat District People convicted on terrorism charges Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 Pakistani Islamists Politicians from Gujrat, Pakistan