Muhammad Shahbaz Shabbir Gill (), commonly known as Shahbaz Gill ( ur, ), is a Pakistani academician, lecturer, politician, former provincial spokesperson to the

Government of Punjab, Pakistan The Government of the Punjab ( ur, ), is the provincial government of the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is based in Lahore, the provincial capital. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the Constitution, in which 41 dis ...

, and former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) of Pakistan to

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 ...

. He was a member of the Imran Khan cabinet from 13 May to 3 April 2022. Currently he is the Chief of Staff of former Prime Minister

following Khan's removal from office in April 2022.

Early life

Gill was born in a

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

family 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 Pakis ...

and received his early education there. He then pursued higher education abroad. He received a Ph.D. in Management and Leadership from the

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

in 2008. He started his teaching career in 2004 and has been a part of the faculty of

Quaid-i-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

and

International Islamic University, Islamabad , motto_lang = Arabic , mottoeng = "All those endowed with knowledge have the All-Knowing above them" , established = , closed = , type = Public , affiliation = ...

, before finally moving to COMSATS University, Lahore. At the University of Illinois, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Business Administration.

Career

Academic

Gill has been an assistant professor of business administration at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...

since 2019.

Political

Gill was appointed as a spokesperson for the Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan,

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

in 2018. In March 2019, Buzdar appointed him to inspect the government institutions and offices on his behalf. He resigned from the post of spokesperson on 13 September 2019.

Arrest

On 9 August 2022, Gill was arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly trying to incite Pakistani army officers to mutiny. Gill was reportedly "dragged out of his vehicle" before being taken into custody. Gill was arrested for statements he made on ARY News on 8 August about alleged rifts within Pakistan's military over Imran Khan's ouster from office during the no-confidence motion in April 2022. Gill testified in court that he had been on a hunger strike for four days and was not allowed to change his clothes and take a bath. Shahbaz's request for judicial remand was denied and police granted his requested two-day physical remand. While in custody, he and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, claimed that he was sexually assaulted. However, in a written statement submitted before the court, Gill stated that he hadn't been sexually assaulted by the police while in detention, though he still said that he was subjected to torture by investigators. Lawyers for Gill submitted a medical report by doctors of

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 ...

in which they declared that Gill was tortured. On 15 September 2022, Gill was released from Central Jail Rawalpindi on bail.

Selected publications

Some of the publications he authored or co-authored include:

Articles

* Ur Rehman, A., & Gill, S. (2010). The relationship between religiosity and new product adoption. ''Journal of Islamic Marketing'', ''1'' (1), 63-69. * Shahbaz, M., & Gill, S. (2012). Military Spending and Economic Growth in Pakistan: New Evidence from Rolling Window Approach. ''Economic Research'', ''25'' 144-159. * Shahbaz, M., Afza, T., & Gill, S. (2012)
Does Defence Spending Impede Economic Growth? Cointegration and Causality Analysis for Pakistan.
''Defense and Peace Economics, 24'' (2), 105-120. * Shahbaz, M., Sherafatian-Jahromi, R., Malikk, M., & Gill, S. (2015)
Linkages between Defense Spending and Income Inequality in Iran Quality & Quantity
''Springer, 50'' 1317–1332. * Shahbaz, M., Gill, S., & Butt, M. (2016)
Does Military Spending Explode External Debt in Pakistan?
''Defense and Peace Economics'', 718-741.

Presentations

* Shahbaz, M., Gill, S., Malik, M., & Wolters, M. (2013). Does Terrorism Impede Private Investment in Pakistan. 17th Annual Western Hemisphere Trade Conference: Western Hemisphere Meets Eastern Hemisphere: Trade. * Gill, S. (2017). Do Online Learning Platforms Truly Provide Convenience and Flexibility? The Munich International Academic Conference on Education & Social Sciences.

Working papers

* Wang, W., & Gill, S. Trust as a Mediator for the Effect of Organizational Justice: What do the Multifoci and Cultural Approaches.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Shahbaz Living people Politicians from Faisalabad Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf politicians Prisoners and detainees of Pakistan Punjabi people University of Malaya alumni Academic staff of Quaid-i-Azam University Academic staff of the International Islamic University, Islamabad University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Year of birth missing (living people)