A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Ijaz worked as a banker prior to entering in politics in 1988, following the death of his father and military ruler president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since February 2024 and previously served in this position from November 1990 to October 1993, from November 2002 to November 2007, and from June 2013 to May 2018. He is mostly active during dictatorial regimes in Pakistan.
He received his master's degree in business administration from Southern Illinois University, United States.[6] He worked as a banker, with Bank of America in Bahrain, for around a decade prior to entering politics in 1990.
Political career
Upon the death of his father in a plane crash in 1988, Haq returned to Pakistan and entered politics.[6]
In 1994, he was imprisoned with other PML(N) leaders in Adiala Jail.[10]
Ijaz was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan for the third time in the 1997 Pakistani general election from NA-54 Rawalpindi-IV as a candidate of the PML(N), defeating the PPP candidate.[9] Following the election, he was appointed as the Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis where he served from 1997 to 1999 during Nawaz Sharif's second ministry until the Sharif government was overthrown soon afterward in the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état by General Pervez Musharraf.[2]
Following differences with Nawaz Sharif, Ijaz created his own party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Z) (PML(Z)) in 2002.[2]
He allied with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML(Q)) and was appointed as the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Federal Minister for Minorities.[11][12][2]
He ran in the 2008 Pakistani general election from NA-191 Bahawalnagar-IV as a candidate of the PML(Q) but lost the seat to a PPP candidate.[2] Following the defeat in the elections, he resigned from the PML(Q) in 2008.[2][13][9]
In 2012, it was reported that he may join the PML(N)[12] and get their ticket to run in the upcoming general elections from NA-191 Bahawalnagar-IV.[11] In 2013, he allied with, but didn’t join, the PML(N).[2]
Ijaz ran for two seats in the National Assembly as a candidate of PML(Z) in the 2013 Pakistani general election. He lost from NA-190 Bahawalnagar-III, losing to a PML(N) candidate, and won NA-191 Bahahwalnagar-IV, defeating a PML(N) candidate.[14][15][16]
On 19 March 2023, Ijaz merged the PML(Z) into the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after a meeting with Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister, and the chairman of the PTI. He further said that he would contest the next general elections on a PTI ticket.[18][19] On 29 May 2023, he later denied the rumours of PML-Z getting merged into PTI.[20][21]
=IN February 2024 he was badly lost PTI candidate Shoukat Basra and was placed 3rd in winning votes, but the mass intrusion in elections by Pakistani Military changed the result in his favour and put him first place after Form 45 and form 47, his elecionnwas totally rigged and should not be considered legitimate
He has written columns for different Urdu publications, including Daily Jang[23] and Dunya News.[24]
^"Detail Information". 26 April 2014. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Parveen Shaukat Ali (1997). Politics of conviction: the life and times of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. The London Centre for Pakistan Studies. ISBN978-1-901899-03-0. Zia-ul-Haq became engaged to his cousin (the daughter of his mother's sister), who was eight years younger than he was. Begum Shafiq Zia-ul-Haq was born in 1932 in Uganda, where her father lived. According to the traditional religious custom, it was an arranged marriage and was solemnized on 10 August 1950, in Model Town, Lahore. Shafiq's father had been staying there on a leave of absence from his job in Uganda, so that he could marry his two daughters in his own country.
