Shaukat Mahmood Basra ( ur, ; born 1 March 1966) is a Pakistani lawyer and politician who was 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 2008 to 2013.

Early life and education

Shaukat Mahmood Basra was born on 1 March 1966 in Bahawalpur, Pakistan to Nabi Ahmad Basra. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (whic ...

and is a qualified

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

. Basra hails from the town of Haroonabad in the Bahawalnagar District of Punjab.

Political career

Pakistan Peoples Party

Basra began his career in politics as a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

president in 1996, as a member of the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

(PPP). He contested in the

2008 Punjab provincial election Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Punjab to elect the 15th Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on 18 February 2008, alongside nationwide general elections and three other provincial elections in Sindh, Balochistan and North ...

from constituency PP-283 (Bahawalnagar-VII) on behalf of the parliamentarians wing of the PPP. He received 43,279 votes and defeated Chaudhry Ghulam Murtaza of the PML-Q, thus becoming an elected member of the 15th provincial assembly and taking oath on 9 April 2008. He remained in office until 2013. During his tenure, Basra served as a Parliamentary Secretary from January 2009 to February 2011 and was also a member of the Special Committee for Finance. In the

2013 Punjab provincial election Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Punjab to elect the 16th Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on 11 May 2013, alongside nationwide general elections and three other provincial elections in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pak ...

, Basra contested once again from the same constituency on a PPP ticket. He received 11,525 votes and lost to Chaudhry Ghulam Murtaza contesting on behalf of the

PML-Z Pakistan Muslim League (Zia-ul-Haq Shaheed) ( ur, ) is a political party in Pakistan formed in 2002. It is named after General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's president from 1978 to 1988. With the general elections of 2002, Ijaz-ul-Haq won the National A ...

this time, placing third in the poll behind runner-up Ashraf-ul-Islam of the PML-N. In the 2018 general election, Basra contested for a seat in 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 ...

from constituency NA-169 Bahawalnagar-IV as an independent candidate. He received 52,068 votes and lost to Noorul Hassan Tanvir of the PML-N, placing third behind runner-up Ijaz-ul-Haq of the PML-Z. During his time with the PPP, Basra worked as the information secretary for the PPP's South Punjab chapter.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

In December 2018, Basra parted ways with the PPP and announced that he had joined the

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).

Personal life

Family

Basra is married and has one child. His cousin, Col (Retd) Naveed Iqbal Sajid, was also a member of the Punjab provincial assembly.

Attack by gunfire

In February 2017, Basra was the victim of gunfire en route to a political rally in Haroonabad in which his personal assistant was killed, while Basra himself suffered serious injuries. The attack occurred when a heated conflict broke out between rival members of the PPP and PML-Z.

References

1966 births Living people Pakistan People's Party MPAs (Punjab) People from Bahawalnagar District Punjab MPAs 2008–2013 University of Karachi alumni Pakistani lawyers {{PunjabPK-MPA-stub