 Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi (Urdu: چودھری پرویز الہی) (born November 1, 1945) was
the Chief Minister of the Pakistan's most
populous province, Punjab, from 2002 to 2007.
Chief Minister of Punjab
In office
29 Nov 2002 – 22 Nov 2007
Preceded by Shahbaz Sharif
Succeeded by Ijaz Nasir
Constituency PP-292 Rahim Yar Khan
Born November 1, 1945
Political party Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
Residence Lahore
Religion Sunni Islam
Background
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is the nephew of late Pakistani politician Chaudhry
Zahoor Elahi. He is from a political and business
family, commonly referred to as Chaudhrys of Gujrat belonging to the Ruler Jatt
clan of Warraich and sub-clan of
Natt.[citation needed]
His cousin and brother-in-law, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, served as the Prime
Minister of Pakistan from May to August 2004. He
is the parliamentary leader of the ruling PML (Q) party.
Education
He studied at Forman Christian College completed graduation in 1967, and
obtained a diploma in Industrial Management from the
University of London.[1]
Political career
He became chairman of the Gujrat district council in 1983 and has been serving
as an MPA (Member of Provincial Assembly) of
the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab since 1985.
He served as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development during 1985-88,
1988-90 and 1990-93. He was Deputy Leader of
the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly during 1993-96, and also the Leader of the
Opposition later. He was the Speaker of the
Punjab Assembly during 1997-99.
In the elections of 2002, he was elected for a sixth consecutive term from two
constituencies - PP-110 (Gujrat) and PP-292
(Rahim Yar Khan). On November 29, 2002, he was inducted as the Chief Minister of
Punjab, serving until November 22, 2007,
when the five-year mandate ended for the provincial assembly of Punjab. He is
also the President of his political party,
Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in Punjab. On 24 July 2006 he was elected, second
time unopposed, the President of the PML for
next three years.
He has been praised for making great contributions to agriculture and
irrigation, education, health, IT, public sector
development, infrastructure, supply of gas and electricity and law and order
while serving as Chief Minister of
Punjab,[citation needed] He has also faced criticism for the appointment of
cronies.[2]. For the first time in Punjab, all
citizens were offered all levels of health care and medical facilities
completely free of cost.[3]
Thousand of water courses were bricklined.[4] For the first time in Lahore,
traffic was controlled by traffic wardens.[5]
Even his most fierce rivals have acknowledged his work.[6]
2008 election
In the February 2008 parliamentary election, Elahi ran for the National Assembly
as a PML-Q candidate, and it was believed
that the party wanted him to become Prime Minister after the election, although
it did not officially declare him as its
candidate for the position.[7] He ran for the seats NA-58 in Attock, NA-61 in
Chakwal, and NA-187 in Bahawalpur,[8] along
with two provincial assembly seats.[7] After the election, he was reported to
have won the National Assembly seat in Attock
but lost the other two.[9]
Despite the PML-Q's defeat in the election, Elahi said that he thought the party
had still performed well enough to take part
in a future government.[10]
Named as suspect in Bhutto assassination attempt
After the suicide bomb attacks that killed hundreds of supporters during rallies
immediately after her return to Pakistan
from exile in 2007, the former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto named four
persons, including current Intelligence
Bureau Chief Ijaz Shah, Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, former Sindh Chief Minister
Arbab Ghulam Rahim, and the former ISI chief Lt
Gen (retd) Hamid Gul, as those who posed a threat to her life.[11] Bhutto
instructed a news reporter to reveal this in case
she was assassinated.
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