Shuja Khanzada ( ur, ‎; 28 August 1943 – 16 August 2015) was a Pakistani politician and

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 ...

colonel, who served as the

Home Minister The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...

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 ...

from 2014 until his assassination on 16 August 2015. As an army officer, Khanzada fought in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war, before partaking in the

Siachen conflict The Siachen conflict, sometimes referred to as the Siachen Glacier conflict or the Siachen War, was a military conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed Siachen Glacier region in Kashmir. The conflict was started in 1984 by India' ...

in 1983. Retiring from the military, Khanzada entered politics in 1996. He was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly thrice, in 2002, 2008, and 2013; the latter as a

PML (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a centre-right and liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Part ...

candidate from his native constituency in Attock. Appointed Home Minister in 2014, Khanzada spearheaded the campaign against

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and sectarian militancy in Punjab. On 16 August 2015, Khanzada was assassinated in a suicide attack at his political office in Shadikhan, Attock. The militant group

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; ur, ) or "Army of Jhangvi", is a Deobandi Sunni supremacist, terrorist and jihadist militant organisation based in Afghanistan. The organisation operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan and is an offshoot of anti-Shia ...

(LeJ) claimed responsibility for the attack, in retaliation for the killing of LeJ chief

Malik Ishaq Malik Ishaq ( ur, ; 1959 – 29 July 2015) was a Pakistani militant, and leader of globally designated Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Formerly a member of anti-Shia militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba, Ishaq co-founded the LeJ in 1996. Under Ishaq's ...

during Khanzada's tenure. A number of his family members had been killed in a suicide attack on a funeral near

Mardan Mardān (Pashto and ; Urdu ; Pashto: ) is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). It is a fast-growing ...

, two years earlier.

Early life

Khanzada's grandfather Captain Ajab Khan was a member of the

Indian Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature of British Raj, British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was ...

(in British India) and his uncle Taj Muhammad Khanzada was a member of 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 ...

and Punjab Provincial Assembly from the 1950s to the late 1990s. He matriculated at the Public School Nowshera, followed by FSc. and graduation from the Islamia College in Peshawar with a bachelor's degree in arts in 1966. In 1967, he was commissioned into the Pakistan Army. Khanzada was married and had three children. His son, Jahangir Khanzada, succeeded him as a member of the provincial assembly in by-elections on 6 October 2015 from the family's native constituency of PP-16, following Shuja's assassination. Three of his cousins died in the Mardan funeral bombing in 2013. Another family member, Major Javed Alam Khanzada was a senior bureaucrat in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

Military career

During his military career, Khanzada fought in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war, served as an instructor in 1974–1978 and 1982–1983, and commanded the

13th Lancers The 13th Lancers is an armoured regiment of Pakistan Army. It was formed in 1923 as 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers by the amalgamation of 31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers and 32nd Lancers. On Partition of India in 1947, the regiment w ...

in 1983–85. He was also present at the

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kar ...

in 1983. In 1988, he was awarded the

Tamgha-e-Basalat Tamgha-i-Basalat ( ur, تمغہِ بسالت, , ''Medal of Good Conduct'') is an award of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It is a non operational award. See also * Awards and decorations of the Pakistan Armed Forces The awards and decorations of ...

for his services. In 1992–1994, he was posted as a military attaché at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, D.C. He was also a field officer of the

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

(ISI), working for the intelligence agency for over a decade from the 1980s to the mid-1990s, during which he specialised on affairs related to

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Political career

Following his retirement from the military, Khanzada entered politics in 1996. For some time, he was affiliated with 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 ...

as a founding member, before joining the

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 ...

. He was elected as a member of the

Provincial Assembly of Punjab The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Punjab, which is located in Lahore, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of Paki ...

from 2002 to 2007 as a PML (Q) legislator. He served as a special advisor to the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

and held a ministry portfolio. He was elected to the provincial assembly again in 2008 as an independent candidate, and in the 2013 elections as a

member, from his native Constituency PP-16. Khanzada was appointed Punjab Environment Protection Minister on 10 June 2013.

Home Minister

Khanzada was assigned the additional charge of the Home Ministry by the Pakistan Muslim League (N) provincial government on 14 October 2014, in a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...

Death and legacy

On 16 August 2015, Khanzada's home office in Shadikhan was attacked in a suicide blast, killing him and at least 21 other people, including a number of his relatives. According to a preliminary investigation, the attack may have been retaliation for the killing of

militant leader

by the Punjab Police during Khanzada's term in office. The attack was strongly condemned throughout the country, including by Prime Minister

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 ...

and Chief of Army Staff General

Raheel Sharif General Raheel Sharif (Urdu: ; born 16 June 1956), is a retired four-star army general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 9th Chief of Army Staff from 29 November 2013 to 29 November 2016. After his retirement as Pakistan's army chief, he ...

. The Lahore City District Government announced that a major new road inaugurated in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, connecting Karim Block and Jinnah Hospital, would be named after Shuja Khanzada.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khanzada, Shuja 1943 births 2015 deaths Assassinated Pakistani politicians Islamia College University alumni Shuja Punjab MPAs 2013–2018 Military personnel from Punjab, Pakistan 2015 murders in Pakistan Pakistan Armoured Corps officers Pakistan Muslim League (N) MPAs (Punjab) Pakistan Muslim League (Q) MPAs (Punjab) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf politicians Pakistani expatriates in the United States Pakistani military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Pakistani terrorism victims Pashtun people People from Attock District People murdered in Punjab, Pakistan People of Inter-Services Intelligence Politicians from Punjab, Pakistan Recipients of Tamgha-e-Basalat Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa casualties Lashkar-e-Jhangvi attacks Recipients of Hilal-e-Shujaat