Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz is a Pakistani politician who was the Provincial Minister of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

for Higher Education and Information Technology in office since 6 August 2022 till April January 2023. Previously, he was Provincial Minister for Higher Education from 27 August 2018 to 27 March 2022. He has also been provincial minister of Punjab for tourism from 27 August 2018 to 19 July 2019. He also held the portfolio of Information Technology from 22 July 2019 to 27 March 2022. He had been a member of the

Provincial Assembly of the Punjab The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani provinces, Pakistani province of Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab, which is located in Lahore, the provincial capital. It was established under ...

from August 2018 till January 2023.

Early life, education and professional career

He was born on 28 December 1972 in

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

Pakistan. Born to a feudal family, his family has significant influence in

Chakwal Chakwal ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city in Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 66th largest city of Pakistan by population. Chakwal is located 90 kilometres south-west of the federal capital, Islamabad and 270 kilomet ...

and has been active in politics and philanthropy. His grandfather Raja Muhammed Sarfraz Khan was member of the Pakistan Movement and remained member of Punjab Legislative Council from 1929 to 1937 and member of Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1958. His uncles Raja Sajjad Akbar and Raja Riaz Ahemad Khan have also remained members of Provincial and National Assemblies from late eighties till date. He completed his schooling from

Aitchison College Aitchison College ( ur, ایچیسن کالج) is an independent, semi-private boys school for boarding and day students from grade 1–13 in Lahore, Pakistan. It has a tradition of providing an education that uses academics, sports, and co-curri ...

in 1991 and proceeded to the United States to attend College. He graduated from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer & Information Systems. After graduation he worked in a software company in Florida, USA for a while but then moved back to Pakistan in 1998. In 1999, he founded Myers College at Kot Sarfraz Khan in Chakwal.

Political career

He joined

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) in 2013. He ran for the seat 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 ...

as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-60 (Chakwal-I) 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 ...

but was unsuccessful. He received 48,076 votes and lost the seat to Tahir Iqbal. In 2018, he had applied for PTI ticket to contest for Constituency NA-64 (Chakwal-I). The allotment of ticket to Yassir Humayun caused rift in PTI's chapter in Chakwal. It was noted that at-least 3 PTI workers had applied for a ticket for Constituency PP-21 (Chakwal-I) but PTI decided to allocate the ticket to Yassir Humayun who had not even applied for the ticket. He was elected to the

as a candidate of PTI from Constituency PP-21 (Chakwal-I) in the 2018 general election. On 27 August 2018, he was inducted into the provincial Punjab cabinet of Chief Minister

Sardar Usman Buzdar Sardar Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar ( ur, ; born 1 May 1969) is a Pakistani politician and previously served as Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan, Chief Minister of The Punjab from 20 August 2018 to 30 April 2022. He has been a member of the Provi ...

and was appointed as Provincial Minister of Punjab for higher education with the additional ministerial portfolio of tourism. Additional portfolio of Provincial Minister of Punjab for Tourism was taken back from him on 19 July 2019, however he was given the additional portfolio of Punjab Information Technology on July 22, 2019. Following the

May 9 riots The May 9 riots were a series of violent clashes that took place on 9 May 2023, in Pakistan. Following the arrest of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's leader, Imran Khan, from the grounds of the Islamabad High Court, demonstrations hel ...

and the perceived attack on Pakistan's institutions by PTI workers, like many other party notables he left PTI and politics in general.

References

Living people Punjabi people Punjab MPAs 2018–2023 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPAs (Punjab) People from Faisalabad Provincial ministers of Punjab 1972 births University of Florence alumni Aitchison College alumni {{PunjabPK-MPA-stub