Muhammad Safdar Awan (

Hindko Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pun ...

and ; born 19 January 1964) is a Pakistani politician and retired

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

officer who 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 June 2008 to May 2018. He is married to the PMLN supremo

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 ...

's daughter

Maryam Nawaz Maryam Nawaz Sharif ( Punjabi and ; born 28 October 1973), also known as Maryam Safdar, is a Pakistani politician and the daughter of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. She was initially involved in the family's philanthropic orga ...

Early and personal life

According to

PILDAT Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, or commonly called Pildat, is a Pakistani think tank which promotes democracy. Pildat is an independent, non-profit oriented think tank that mainly focuses on democracy, governance a ...

, Awan was born on 19 January 1963. According to

the News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cater ...

and

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

, he was born on 19 January 1964. He joined

after completing his early education. Awan married Maryam Nawaz in 1992 while he was serving as captain in Pakistan Army and had been the ADC to

during the latter's tenure as Prime Minister of Pakistan. After retiring from Pakistan Army as captain he joined the civil services, and was posted as Lahore Model Town assistant commissioner.

Political career

Safdar joined politics after returning to Pakistan in 2007 along with the Sharif family. Awan was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

as a candidate 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 ...

(PML-N) from Constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III) in by-election held in June 2008. He received 54,917 votes and defeated a candidate of

Pakistan Muslim League (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 ...

. The seat was vacated by

Nisar Ali Khan Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan ( ur, ; born 31 July 1954) is a Pakistani politician who served as the Interior Minister from 2013 to 2017. He is currently an independent member-of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab - elected to represent PP-10 (Rawa ...

. In 2011, Awan was made the chief organiser of the PML-N Youth Wing. In 2012, Awan was suspended from PML-N for verbally abusing leaders of PML-N. Awan was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-21 (Mansehra-cum-Tor Ghar) 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 received 91,013 votes and a candidate of

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (Fazl) also Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) or simply as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Urdu: ; ; JUI-F) is a Deobandi Sunni political party in Pakistan. Established as the ''Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam'' in 1945, it is the result o ...

. In May 2016, Awan was reported to

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ; ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, l ...

(ECP) by

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 ...

for concealing Maryam Nawaz assets. Safdar denied that however was summoned by ECP in June 2016. In June 2018, he was allocated PML-N ticket to contest the 2018 general election from Constituency NA-14 (Mansehra-cum-Torghar). In July 2018, he was sentenced to one-year jail term in Avenfield corruption reference filed by the

National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...

. As a result, he was disqualified from contesting election for 10 years. The next day, he arrived in Rawalpindi and surrendered to authorities. In September 2018, He was released on bail over Avenfield corruption charges. On 19 October 2020, Capt. Safdar was arrested from Karachi hotel for 'violating sanctity of Quaid's mausoleum' and was released on bail the same day.

Political views

In 2012, Awan publicly supported Islamic fundamentalist

Mumtaz Qadri Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri (1985 – 29 February 2016), better known as Mumtaz Qadri (, ur, ), was the assassin of Salmaan Taseer, Governor of Punjab. Qadri was a commando of the Elite Police and, at the time of the assassination, a member ...

who assassinated former Governor of Punjab

Salmaan Taseer Salman Taseer ( Punjabi and ur, ); ( 4 January 2011) was a Pakistani businessman and politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011. A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party since the 1980s, h ...

for speaking against the blasphemy law. He has often been involved in spreading hatred against the persecuted

Ahmadiyya Muslim Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

community in Pakistan and called for a ban on hiring Ahmadis in the armed forces and other important institutions of the country. He has been criticized for his statements against a vulnerable minority and using it for political gains.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Safdar Awan, Muhammad Living people 1963 births Pakistan Army officers Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013 Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018 Pakistani prisoners and detainees Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia Pakistani Muslims Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNAs Sharif family Critics of Ahmadiyya Pakistani politicians convicted of crimes

Early and personal life

Political career

Political views

See also

References