Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq ( ur, ; born 20 February 1952) is a Pakistani politician who is the leader of the

Pakistan Muslim League (Z) Pakistan Muslim League (Zia-ul-Haq Shaheed) ( ur, ) is a political party in Pakistan formed in 2002. It is named after General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's president from 1978 to 1988. With the general elections of 2002, Ijaz-ul-Haq won the National A ...

. He served as Minister for Religious Affairs and Minorities in the government of General

Pervez 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 ...

from 2004 to 2007, after having served as Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis in the government of

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

from 1990 to 1993. A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Ijaz worked as a banker prior to entering in politics in 1988, following the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

of his father General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's sixth president. He was 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 ...

between 1990 and May 2018. He is mostly active during dictatorial regimes in Pakistan.

Early life and education

Ijaz was born on 20 February 1952 to General Zia-ul-Haq, who was born in Jalandhar, and Begum

Shafiq Zia Begum Shafiq Zia (née Shafiq Jahan; 21 September 1931 – 5 January 1996) was a Pakistani public figure who served as the First Lady of Pakistan from 1977 until her husband's death in a plane crash on 17 August 1988. Early life and family Begu ...

, who was born in Uganda. He received his master's degree in business administration from Southern Illinois University, United States. He worked as a banker, with

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

in Bahrain, prior to entering politics in 1990.

Political career

Upon the death of his father in a plane crash in 1988, Haq returned to Pakistan and entered politics. Ijaz was elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time in

1990 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 24 October 1990 to elect the members of the National Assembly. The elections were primarily a contest between the People's Democratic Alliance (PDA, a four party alliance led by the ruling Pakistan Pe ...

from NA-54 Rawalpindi constituency defeating the PPP candidate from two constituencies; NA-39 and NA-72 on Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ticket. The elections were declared manipulated and rigged by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2012. Ijaz was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the second time in

1993 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 6 October 1993 to elect the members of National Assembly. The elections took place after both the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan resigned to resolve a power struggle. Prior ...

from NA-54 Rawalpindi constituency defeating the PPP candidate. In 1994, he was imprisoned with other (PML-N) leaders in

Adiala Jail Central Jail Rawalpindi (also known as Adiala Jail) is a prominent prison in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. History The Central Jail Rawalpindi was built from the late 1970s and early 1980s during the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, afte ...

. Ijaz was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the third time in

1997 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 3 February 1997 to elect the members of National Assembly. The elections were a fierce contest between Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by pre-election Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Mus ...

from NA-54 Rawalpindi constituency defeating the PPP candidate. Following the election, he was appointed as the federal minister for Labour, Manpower and overseas Pakistanis where he served from 1997 to 1999 during Nawaz Sharif second ministry until Sharif government was overthrown soon afterward in a

1999 Pakistani coup d'état The 1999 military takeover in Pakistan was a bloodless ''coup d'état'' initiated by the military staff at the Joint Staff HQ working under Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Pervez Musharraf. The instigators seized con ...

by General

in 1999. Following differences with Nawaz Sharif, Ijaz created his own party PML-Z in 2002. He was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the fourth time in 2002 Pakistani general election from Bahawalnagar constituency. He allied with PML-Q and was appointed as the Federal Minister for religious affairs and Federal Minister for Minorities in Musharraf government. He ran in the

2008 Pakistani general election 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

from only one constituency Bahawalnagar instead of two but lost the election for the first time Following the defeat in the elections, he resigned from the PML-Q in 2010. to a PPP candidate. He was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab from Bahawalnagar constituency in by-elections held in 2010. In 2012, it was reported that he may join PML-N and get PML-N ticket to run in upcoming general elections from constituency Bahawalnagar NA-191. In 2013, he allied with PML-N. Ijaz ran for the seat of the National Assembly from two Bahawalnagar constituencies in

2013 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the 14th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, t ...

however lost from NA-190 and won NA-191. He was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the fifth time from constituency NA-191 defeating a candidate of PPP He run for NA 169 Bahawalnagar 4 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 ...

however, he lost to Noorul Hassan Tanvir of

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 ...

by getting 72461 votes. {{cite news, title=NA 169 Bahawalnagar 4, url=https://www.geo.tv/election/NA-169, work=www.geo.tv, date=22 May 2013, language=en

References

{{reflist, 30em {{DEFAULTSORT:Ijaz-ul-Haq, Muhammad Living people 1952 births Pakistani bankers Pakistani political party founders Pakistani MNAs 1990–1993 Pakistani MNAs 1993–1996 Pakistani MNAs 1997–1999 Pakistani MNAs 2002–2007 Punjab MPAs 2008–2013 Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018 Southern Illinois University Carbondale alumni Children of presidents of Pakistan Religious Ministers of Pakistan Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNAs Pakistani prisoners and detainees Pakistani Muslims Pakistani expatriates in Bahrain

Early life and education

Political career

Further reading

References