Fawad Chaudhry
Fawad Ahmed Hussain Chaudhry is a Pakistani politician who served as Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, in office since 14 April 2021 to 10 April 2022. On 24 May 2023, he announced his retirement from politics.
Previously, he held the office of federal minister for Science and Technology from 19 April 2019 to 16 April 2021. He had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till January 2023. He was a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's core committee from 4 June 2019 till 24 May 2023.
Previously, he has also served in the federal cabinet of prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as special assistant for Information and Political Affairs respectively, between April 2012 and March 2013.
Early life
Fawad was born in Ladhar, a village near Dina in the Jhelum District of Punjab, where he still resides. He belongs to a politically active Punjabi Jat family of the Vains clan, his uncle Chaudhry Altaf Hussain being appointed Governor of Punjab twice while another uncle Chaudhary Iftikhar Hussain has served as Chief Justice of Lahore High Court.Journalistic career
He is lawyer by profession and has worked as a political analyst and an anchor for five different media organizations. He hosted Khabar Kay Pechay on Neo News; in March 2015 he took an interview of Syed Mustafa Kamal and interrogated him about the supposed links between the political party MQM and RAW, India's intelligence agency.Political career
Early career in different parties
Fawad was covering candidate for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as an independent candidate from Constituency PP-25 in the 2002 Pakistani general election. As a backup candidate, He supported candidate Chaudhry Tasneem Nasir, a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League who received 38,626 votes.Fawad joined former President Pervez Musharraf as his spokesperson in 2009, later he was appointed General Secy. of Pervez Musharraf APML Punjab Chapter. In January 2012, he resigned as media coordinator of All Pakistan Muslim League. In March 2012, he quit APML and joined Pakistan Peoples Party. In April 2012, he was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and was appointed special assistant to Prime Minister for information and political affairs with the status of a minister of state where he continued to serve until June 2012 when the federal cabinet was dissolved following the disqualification of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. In July 2012, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was elected Prime Minister and Chaudhry was re-inducted into the federal cabinet. He was appointed Special Assistant for Prime Minister on Political Affairs where he served until March 2013.
He ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PML-Quaid from NA-63 in the 2013 Pakistani general election but was unsuccessful. He received 34,072 votes and lost the seat to Malik Iqbal Mehdi Khan. In the same election, he also ran for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as an backup candidate from Constituency PP-24 but was unsuccessful. He received only 82 votes and lost the seat to Raja Muhammad Awais Khan.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (2016–2023)
Early electoral setbacks and party leadership appointements
In June 2016, he joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.He ran for the seat of the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency Constituency NA-63 in by-election held in August 2016 but was unsuccessful. He received 74,819 votes and lost the seat to Nawabzada Raja Matloob Mehdi.
In November 2016, he was appointed the spokesperson of PTI. In March 2018, he was given the additional charge of Secretary Information of PTI after the resignation of Mr. Shafqat Mahmood.
Electoral success
In June 2018, he was allocated PTI ticket to contest the 2018 Pakistani general election from Constituency NA-67. An election tribunal rejected the nomination papers of Chaudhry after a petition was filed claiming Fawad had not paid agriculture tax. The Lahore High Court allowed Chaudhry to contest the election after he filed an appeal in high court against the election tribunal's decision.He was elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-67 in 2018 general election. He received 93,102 votes and defeated Nawabzada Raja Matloob Mehdi, a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League . In the same election, he was also elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as a candidate of PTI from Constituency PP-27. He received 67,003 votes and defeated Nasir Mehmood, a candidate of PML-N. Following his successful election, he expressed interest to become the Chief Ministers of Punjab in a TV talk show.
Ministerial positions
On 18 August 2018, Imran Khan formally announced his federal cabinet structure and Chaudhry was named as Minister for Information and Broadcasting. On 20 August 2018, he was appointed Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan.In April 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a major reshuffle of the federal cabinet and Chaudhry was removed as Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting. He was subsequently appointed Federal Minister for Science and Technology.