Shafqat Mahmood ( Punjabi, ; 19 February 1950) is a Pakistani bureaucrat-turned-politician who served as th
Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training
and Federal Minister for National History and Literary Heritage, from 20 August 2018 to 3 April 2022. Before going into politics, he served as a grade 20 officer of the

Pakistan Administrative Service The Pakistan Administrative Service, or PAS ( ur, ) (previously known as the District Management Group or DMG before 1 June 2012) is an elite cadre of the Civil Services of Pakistan. The Pakistan Administrative Service over the years has emerge ...

. He was elected a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2013 and 2018. He has been a member of the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper house, upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly (Pakistan), National As ...

from March 1994 to March 2000. He served as Federal Minister for the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Environment, Urban Affair Forestry and Wildlife, and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid from November 1996 to February 1997. He served as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information from 1999 to 2000 during the military rule of

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 t ...

. He is no longer Member of National Assembly as he resigned from the National Assembly.

Early life and education

He was born on 19 February 1950. He completed his early education at

Sadiq Public School The Sadiq Public School (SPS) is a college-preparatory boarding school located in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. It also takes day pupils. It is one of the largest schools in Pakistan and its area of makes it both the largest in the country and i ...

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city. Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...

, and later studied in the Government College University, Lahore before completing his Certificate of Merit from the

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. ...

in 1970. He received a Masters in Psychology, and Masters in Public Administration from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1981. He obtained a Masters in Public Policy and Administration from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in 1987.

Early career

He started his career by joining the

cadre of the civil bureaucracy in 1973. He served as Assistant Commissioner of

Murree Murree (Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...

and

Pakpatan Pakpattan ( Punjabi and ), often referred to as Pākpattan Sharīf (; ''"Noble Pakpattan"''), is the capital city of the Pakpattan District, located in Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the 48th largest city of Pakistan by population according ...

from 1975 to 1978. He was then made Deputy Secretary to the Government of the Punjab where he served till 1980. He served as Deputy Commissioner of Gujranwala and

Dera Ghazi Khan Dera Ghazi Khan (), abbreviated as D.G. Khan, is a city in the southwestern part of Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 19th largest city of Pakistan by population. Lying west of the Indus River, it is the headquarters of Dera Ghazi Khan District and ...

for five years and also as an Additional Commissioner of the Afghan Refugees Organization for a short time in 1985. He served as Additional Secretary of Finance of the Government of Punjab from 1988 to 1989. Later, he joined the Prime Minister's Secretariat and served as Joint Secretary from 1989 to 1990.

Political career

He left the civil service and joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1990 to begin his political career. He was appointed as political secretary to then Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and remained spokesperson for PPP to represent the party on foreign tours. He remained a close aide of

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourt ...

and of Benazir Bhutto. He was elected to the

as a candidate of PPP from Islamabad in March 1994. He was re-elected to the Senate as an independent candidate from Islamabad in March 1997. He remained a member of the Senate until March 2000. On 5 November 1996, he was inducted into the federal cabinet of caretaker Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid and was appointed as Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock. On 12 November, he was given the additional ministerial portfolio of Ministry of Environment, Urban Affair Forestry and Wildlife. On 25 November, he was given the additional ministerial portfolio of Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development. He served as Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock until 15 December 1996. He remained Minister for Environment, Urban Affair Forestry and Wildlife, and Minister for Environment, Local Government and Rural Development until 17 February 1997. He became part of the military government setup following the

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 c ...

and served as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information from 1999 to 2000. After his resignation, he began writing columns for an English-language newspaper ''

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 used to criticize the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its chief

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 ...

. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, he quit PPP. He joined PTI in November 2011 and served as information secretary of PTI from December 2011 to March 2013. He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-126 (Lahore-IX) as a candidate of PTI in the 2013 Pakistani general election. He received 97,933 votes and defeated Khawaja Ahmad Hassan, a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N). In November 2015, he resigned from the post of PTI organizer in Lahore after the party's poor performance in local government elections held in October 2015. In May 2017, he became central information secretary of PTI. He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-130 (Lahore-VIII) in the 2018 Pakistani general election. On 18 August,

formally announced his federal cabinet structure and Mahmood was named as Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training and Minister for National History and Literary Heritage. On 20 August 2018, he was sworn in as a Federal Minister in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan. On 15 November 2019, he was elected as the President of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

's Education Commission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahmood, Shafqat Living people 1950 births Pakistani civil servants Pakistani columnists Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018 Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 Members of the Senate of Pakistan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf politicians Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs Federal ministers of Pakistan Politicians from Lahore Punjabi people Harvard University alumni University of Southern California alumni Government College University, Lahore alumni Sadiq Public School alumni