Muhammad Hanif Abbasi ( ur, ; born 4 January 1966) is a Pakistani businessman and politician 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 ...

. 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 ...

twice from 2002 to 2008 and again from 2008 to 2013.

Early life and education

He was born on 4 January 1966 in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

. He graduated from the

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is an private liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church. The university follows an American-style curriculum. Founded in 1864 by American ...

and

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

Political career

Abbasi started his political career as a member of

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...

but later joined

(PML-N) in 2008. He was first elected as a member of the

from NA-56 (Rawalpindi VII) as a candidate of

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal (MMA; Urdu: , "United Council of Action") is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, religious, and far-right parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui (the founder of Tehreek e Islami) proposed suc ...

(MMA) and defeated

Sheikh Rashid Ahmad Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad ( ur, ; born 6 November 1950) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 38th Ministry of Interior (Pakistan), Interior Minister of Pakistan from 2020 to 2022. He is famous because of his smoking cigars and Laal Haveli. He ...

nephew, Sheikh Rashid Shafiq in the 2002 by-elections. In

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 ...

, Abbasi joined the

(PML-N) and was again elected as a member of the

from NA-56 (Rawalpindi VII) on the ticket of

(PML-N) and defeated former Minister

by bagging 73,433 votes. 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 ...

, he again contested election from NA-56 (Rawalpindi VII) as a candidate of

(PML-N) and was defeated after taking 67,169 votes against

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

who obtained 80,425 votes. 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 was the nominated candidate from NA-60 (Rawalpindi-IV) on the ticket of

(PML-N), however, he was disqualified and sentenced for a lifetime in the narcotics case. In April 2018, he was arrested in ephedrine quota case by anti-narcotics force and sentenced to prison for life by the court. However, on April 11, 2019, a bench comprising Justice Aalia Neelum of the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

suspended the sentence, the court maintained that all other accused in the case were acquitted and all legal points were not considered during the case.

Disqualification

An F.I.R. was registered against Abbasi in June 2012 for misuse of 500 k.g. of the controlled drug ephedrine obtained for his pharmaceutical company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010. In November 2012, Abbasi was granted bail from the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench, however, just before election 2013, antinarcotic force submitted a challan to relook into the case before Abbasi can contest elections. However, Abbasi was allowed to contest election 2013, since his case was pending in the court. On July, 2018, Justice Sardar Muhammad Akram, announced the judgment, in which he was found guilty in narcotics, imposing Rs. 1 million and lifetime imprisonment. He was arrested from the courts room and was shifted to

Central Jail Rawalpindi 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, aft ...

. On September 22, 2018, a scandal surfaced when Abbasi's picture was released from jail in a casual dress instead of Jail's apparel with his party leadership in Central Jail Adiala superintendent, after which he was shifted to Attock Jail from

. Abbasi experienced bad health during his imprisonment, reportedly he had kidney problems He was shifted to

Punjab Institute of Cardiology Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), located in Lahore, Pakistan, is a 347-bed tertiary care hospital providing nationwide comprehensive cardiac care services. Services provided This hospital services include cardiac emergency, OPD, diagnostic ...

in January 2019 for cardiac procedures and in March, 2019 to

Shaikh Zayed Hospital Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore ( ur, ) is a tertiary care Hospital located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is attached with Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Medical and Dental College as a teaching hospital and is part of Shaikh Zayed Medical ...

for his kidney and cardiac problems. On April 11, 2019, a bench comprising Justice Aalia Neelum of the Lahore High Court suspended the sentence, the court maintained that all other accused in the case were acquitted and all legal points were not considered during the case.

References

External links

Muhammad Hanif Abbasi – Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbasi, Hanif 1966 births Living people Pakistani businesspeople Pakistani MNAs 2002–2007 Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013 Pakistani prisoners and detainees Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan politicians Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNAs Punjabi people Forman Christian College alumni Politicians from Rawalpindi Pakistani politicians convicted of crimes Drug dealers University of the Punjab alumni