Sardar Sanaullah Khan Zehri ( ur, ) is a Pakistani politician who had been the

Chief Minister of Balochistan The Chief Minister of Balochistan ( ur, وزیر اعلیٰ بلوچستان) is the head of government of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. The chief minister leads the legislative branch of the provincial government, and is elected by the ...

from 24 December 2015, to 9 December 2017. He belongs to Channal Zarakzai family and also the ''

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been ...

'' of the Zehri tribe and chief of

Jhalawan Jhalawan ( Brahui: جھالاوان) was an administrative division of the Khanate of Kalat, a princely state of Brahui that acceded to Pakistan in 1947. It was established in the 17th century and its boundary was fixed with Sindh in 1853. ...

. Zehri succeeded

Abdul Malik Baloch Abdul Malik Baloch ( ur, —) was the 21st Chief Minister of Balochistan, Pakistan from 7 June 2013 to 23 December 2015. He was born in Turbat District, Makran and he is a member of the Hooth tribe. He is the president of National Party. He ...

as chief minister

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. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

on 24 December 2015 as part of the power sharing deal brokered in the resort town 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 ...

. Zehri was the central president of the

Pakistan Muslim League The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country. The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’ ...

's Balochistan branch and a confidant of former Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, 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 minister of Pak ...

He left the PML-N on 7 November 2020. On 7 June 2013, Zehri was appointed senior minister of Balochistan with portfolios of communication works, mines, minerals, On 9 January 2018, due to the imminence of a no-confidence vote against him, Zehri resigned from his post as chief minister to prevent the brewing of a political crisis.

Biography

Nawab Sanaullah Zehri was born in Anjeera in the

Khuzdar District Khuzdar ( Balochi and Brahui: ; Urdu: ) is a district in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Its capital is the city of Khuzdar. Until its establishment as a district in 1974 it was part of Kalat District. In November 1992 part of the terri ...

, Pakistan, on 4 August 1961. His father, Sardar Doda Khan Zehri, was a tribal leader and an activist in the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...

who played a crucial role in gathering Balochistan's support for the cause of Pakistan. He graduated with a BA degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 1983 from the

University of Balochistan The University of Balochistan (UB) (Urdu: جامعہ بلوچستان; Balochi: بلوچستان ء یونیورسٹی ), also known as Balochistan University, is a public university located in the downtown area of Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. ...

. Upon graduating from Balochistan University, he ran in the 1990

Balochistan Assembly The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Balochistan, and is located in Quetta, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of ...

general election, performing well on the PML(N)'s conservative platform. During this time, he campaigned for

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

in Balochistan. In 1997, he contested and triumphed in a senate election, representing Balochistan until 1999. Zehri ran for the PB-50 (Khuzdar-I) constituency on the National Party's platform during the 2002 general election. He served as the provincial minister of prisons and tribal affairs until 2003. In 2008, the National Party boycotted the general election. Zehri disagreed with the move, leaving the party, and in February he won a seat in the assembly under his own, newly founded the National Party.In September 2006, Zehri participated in a

loya jirga A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic ...

called by the

Khan of Kalat The Khanate of Kalat ( bal, کلاتءِ ھانات) was a Baloch Khanate that existed from 1512 to 1955 in the centre of the modern-day province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Its rulers were Brahui speakers. Prior to that they were subjects of ...

Mir Suleman Dawood Jan Agha Mir Suleman Dawood Jan Ahmedzai ( Balochi: آغا میر سلیمان داوود خان احمدزی) is the 35th Khan of Kalat, a position he has held since the death of his father, Mir Dawood Jan, in 1998. Currently he lives in self-impose ...

, following the death of

Akbar Bugti Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti ( Balochi, Urdu: ; 12 July 1927 – 26 August 2006) was a Pakistani politician and the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch people who served as the Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Baloc ...

. On 6 January 2010, he joined the

. In August 2011, Baloch was selected by PML(N) as the assistant secretary general of the PML-N for Balochistan. In 2013, Zehri defended his constituency on PML-N's platform and was initially named as candidacy for

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 ...

of Balochistan. However, Prime Minister

instead approved the appointment of

as the chief minister of Balochistan. On 16 April 2013, Zehri escaped an assassination attempt on his life when his convoy came under a bomb attack in his native Khuzdar district. The attack killed his son, Sikander Zehri, brother Mir Meharullah Zehri and nephew Mir Zaid. The

Balochistan Liberation Army The Balochistan Liberation Army ( bal, بلۏچستان آجوییء لشکر; abbreviated BLA), also known as the Baloch Liberation Army, is a Baloch ethnonationalist militant organization based in Afghanistan. The BLA's first recorded acti ...

(BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack on Zehri. On 23 November 2020, Sanaullah lost his daughter Ayesha Zehri allegedly due to Covid 19.

References

External links

Peace top priority, says Zehri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zehri, Sanaullah Khan Living people 1961 births Balochistan MPAs 1990–1993 Balochistan MPAs 2002–2007 Balochistan MPAs 2013–2018 Brahui people Chief Ministers of Balochistan, Pakistan Members of the Senate of Pakistan Nawabs of Balochistan, Pakistan Nawabs of Pakistan Pakistan Muslim League (N) politicians Pakistan People's Party politicians Provincial ministers of Balochistan People from Khuzdar District University of Balochistan alumni University of Karachi alumni

Biography

Further reading

References

External links