Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan
Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan is a Pakistani politician who served as the Interior Minister from 2013 to 2017 under the third Sharif administration. A senior conservative thinker formerly on a platform on the Pakistan Muslim League, Khan had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan between 1985 and May 2018. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly from 2008 to 2013.
Born in Chakri, Khan was educated at the Burn Hall College. Khan has served in various federal cabinet positions since 1988, mostly under the Sharif's administrations. Under the first Sharif administration in 1990, he served as the Minister of Science and Technology; and on second Sharif administration in 1997, he held the cabinet portfolio of Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources. For a short stint, he served in the Gillani administration, he briefly served as the Minister of Food Security and Research with the additional portfolio of Communications Minister. In 2013, he joined the third Sharif administration, he was appointed as the Interior Minister, which he held until the dissolution of the federal cabinet in July 2017 following the dismissal of Sharif by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
After unsuccessfully defended his constituency for the National Assembly, Khan ran for the provincial seat and had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till January 2023.
Early life and education
Khan was born in the Chakri, Rawalpindi District, on 31 July 1954. His family roots traced to the Jodhra and Alpial tribes of the Rajputs. Khan hailed from a military family who served in the former British Indian Army; his father, Fateh Khan, was a Brigadier in the Pakistan Army. His great-great-grandfather Sher Khan served in the British Army who assisted the British Empire during the Indian rebellion of 1857; his grandfather Chaudhary Sultan Khan was an officer in the British Indian Army and died during World War I.His elder brother, Iftikhar Ali Khan, was a three-star general who served as the Chief of the General Staff.
Khan was educated and graduated from the Aitchison College in Lahore and later went to attend the Burn Hall College in Abbottabad for his college studies. During his time at Aitchison, he played batting and captained its cricket team, and Imran Khan playing under his captaincy.
Political career
Early career
Khan began his political career in the 1980s after becoming chairman of Rawalpindi district council. He became close to Nawaz Sharif during the rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.1985–1993
He was first elected to the National Assembly in the 1985 general election from constituency NA-52. He was re-elected to the National Assembly from the same constituency in the 1988 general election on the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ticket. He was then appointed as the Federal Minister for Science and Technology. After getting re-elected for the third time to the National Assembly in the 1990 general election on the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ticket from constituency NA-52, Khan was made the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources and Provincial Coordinator, where he served from 1990 to 1993 during the first government of Sharif. He was re-elected to the national assembly for the fourth time in the 1993 general election from constituency NA-52.1993–2002
He was re-elected to the National Assembly for the fifth time in the 1997 general election from constituency NA-52 and was for the second time appointed as the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, where he served until he was dismissed in October 1999 after the coup d'état when then Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, overthrew the elected government of Sharif. Khan was placed under house arrest for many weeks. It was during his tenure as Member of the National Assembly, he became the most powerful man in PML-N after Nawaz Sharif. Khan was also among Sharif's loyalists who kept the PML-N alive during the Musharraf rule. Musharraf was reportedly appointed as the Chief of Army Staff on the recommendation of Khan.Khan was re-elected to the National Assembly for the sixth time in the 2002 general election from constituency NA-52. However, he lost the election in constituency NA-53.
2002–2011
He was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly in the 2008 general election for the seventh time, both from constituency NA-52 and from constituency NA-53. Later, Khan vacated the NA-52 seat and retained NA-53.Khan was appointed as the Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock and Federal Minister for Communications in March 2008 in the government of Yousaf Raza Gillani, but his tenure was short-lived due to PML-N's decision to leave the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government.
In September 2008, he was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly after the resignation of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. In October 2011, he became the first-ever chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly to present annual reports, but he resigned in November 2011 claiming that accountability was not possible under the Pakistan Peoples Party regime led by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
2013–2017
For the 2013 general election, Khan was made part of PML-N's central parliamentary board tasked with selecting candidates for the election. Khan was re-elected to the National Assembly from constituency NA-52 for the eighth time in the election and was appointed as the Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control in the Sharif cabinet, as he had a close relationship with the Pakistan Armed Forces.In 2013, Dawn reported that, although Khan had no post in PML-N, he was known for his assertiveness in the party's affairs and had had differences with other PML-N leaders. Reportedly, before the 2013 election, Khan lobbied to become the Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan, and proposed that Shehbaz Sharif be made Minister for Water and Power, but Nawaz Sharif did not give the party ticket to Khan for the provincial seat. In spite of that, Khan contested the election for provincial assembly seat as an independent candidate and won. Dawn reported that Khan was once considered the de facto chief minister of Punjab.
In March 2015, The News International commended the 21-month progress of Khan as Interior Minister. However, Khan was held responsible for failing to implement and enforce the proposals and plans of the National Action Plan. Khan was also criticised for delaying the inauguration of the Safe City Project in Islamabad, under which 1,800 surveillance cameras were installed across the city. During his tenure as Interior Minister, he issued the approval to launch Biometric passport in Pakistan.
2017–present
He ceased to hold ministerial office on 28 July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the resignation of Sharif after the Panama Papers case decision. A day earlier, Khan had announced that he was considering stepping down as Interior Minister and resigning from membership in the National Assembly because of his differences with the party leaders. After the resignation of Sharif, Khan held a farewell meeting with his Interior Ministry staff and made it clear that he would not become part of the next federal cabinet of the incoming prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is junior to him. As of September 2017, Khan was the longest continuously-serving member of the National Assembly, who was elected to the National Assembly eight timessince 1985 election. On 4 August 2017, Abbasi announced his cabinet without Khan being a member. However, reportedly Khan did not renounce his seat in the National Assembly. Khan was accused for giving safe passage to Pervez Musharraf for going out of Pakistan despite a treason case against him.
In February 2018, Imran Khan offered Khan to join Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf before 2018 general election. On 27 February, it was reported Nawaz Sharif has parted ways with Khan.
In June 2018, he parted ways with PML-N and announced to run for the 2018 general election as an independent candidate instead of seeking the nomination of PML-N and criticized Sharif brothers saying "These Sharifs will not able to show their faces anywhere if I decide to open my mouth." In July 2018, he in a press conference said "My decision to run as an independent candidate does not mean I have parted ways with the PML-N".
He was re-elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as an independent candidate from Constituency PP-10 in the 2018 general election. He received 53,212 votes and defeated Naseer UI Husnain Shah a Independent politician. In the same election, he also ran for the seat in the National Assembly as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-59 and Constituency NA-63, but was unsuccessful. Following the election, he went outside Pakistan and did not take oath of the provincial assembly seat.
In January 2019, a petition was filed in the Lahore High Court against Khan which directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to de-notify him for his failure to take oath as member of the Punjab Assembly.