 Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (Urdu: ?????? ????? ????) (born 1946) is a politician
from Pakistan who was the Prime Minister of that country from June 30, 2004
until August 28, 2004. He hails from the province of the Punjab, where his
cousin Chaudhry Pervez Elahi served as Chief Minister from 2002 to 2007.
24th Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office
30 June 2004 – 20 August 2004
President Pervez Musharraf
Preceded by Zafarullah Khan Jamali
Succeeded by Shaukat Aziz
Born January 27, 1946 (1946-01-27) (age 62)
Gujrat, British India
Political party Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
Religion Sunni Islam
Early life and education
Chaudhry Shujaat was born on January 27, 1946 in Gujrat and graduated from
Forman Christian College, University of the Punjab, Lahore in 1967.
Politics
Chaudhry Shujaat became a member of the federal parliament (Majlis-e-Shoora) in
1981 and until 1985 when he contested in the general election from Gujrat on
both the National and Punjab Assemblies seats. After the elections he had to
vacate his Punjab Assembly seat in favour of the National Assembly seat he had
one and he became a member of the then Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo’s
cabinet as the Industries Minister. He served a further 4 terms as a member of
the national assembly after being elected (1988, 1990, 1997, 2002). He also
acted as the parliamentary party leader of the PML-N in the National Assembly.
Over the years he held several portfolios as a Federal Minister including
Information and Broadcasting (1986), Industries and Production (1987-1988),
Interior (1990-1993), and Interior & Narcotics Control (1997-1999).
Chaudhry Shujaat was an active political leader as well, heading the
Parliamentary Party of Joint Opposition in the National Assembly from 1988 to
1990. He was President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) in Punjab from 1997 to
1999, led the Parliamentary Party then called PML-Q beginning in December 2002,
was President of the Pakistan Muslim League in January 2003 and was elected
President of Pakistan Muslim League on May 12, 2004.[citation needed]
On the international scene, he has been named an Honorary Consul General in the
Republic of South Korea (1982) and was awarded Korea's highest diplomatic award
Order of the Diplomatic Service Merit "Ueung-in-Metal" for distinguished
services in promoting mutual relations between Pakistan and Republic of Korea.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, then Pakistan's interim Prime Minister, sees off U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, after their July 2004 meeting at the
Prime Minister's residence in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, then Pakistan's interim Prime Minister, sees off U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, after their July 2004 meeting at the
Prime Minister's residence in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Chaudhry Shujaat served as Interior Minister during Nawaz Sharif's first tenure
as Prime Minister. After losing the election from Gujrat in 1993, Chaudhry
Shujaat became a member of the Senate of Pakistan and the Chairman of the
Senate's standing committee on defence, production and aviation from 1993 to
1997. He won the general election again in 1997 by defeating PPP candidate
justice Mukhtar Ahmad Junejo. Nawaz Sharif appointed Shujaat Hussain as the
Interior Minister in his cabinet, and Hussain was elected the Punjab PML-Nawaz
president in 1997.
Prime Minister and resignation
After the Nawaz Sharif government was overthrown by General Pervez Musharraf on
October 12, 1999, several PML-N dissidents formed a group under Mian Muhammad
Azhar's leadership. Earlier, Chaudhry Shujaat did not join any group, but after
Nawaz Sharif's exile, he also joined Mian Azhar and formed the Pakistan Muslim
League (Q) in March 2001. In the general election of October 2002, Chaudhry
Shujaat was elected to the National Assembly. He has also been elected unopposed
for three years in a row as president of the PML (Q), Pakistan's ruling party
since 2006.
On July 9, 2007, he led a delegation that attempted to negotiate with militants
besieged in the Red Mosque in Islamabad shortly before the military stormed the
mosque compound early the next day.[1]
Shujaat was a candidate in the February 2008 parliamentary election for a seat
from Gujrat (NA-105), where he faced Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar of the Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP), and a seat from Sialkot (NA-112).[2] In what was considered
an upset, he was defeated by Mukhtar in Gujrat. He was also defeated in Sialkot.[3]
Shujaat subsequently accepted the PML-Q's defeat in the election and said that
it was free and fair. |
