Muhammad Ishaq Dar

Muhammad Ishaq Dar is the former Finance Minister of Pakistan and Minister for Economic Affairs and Statistics in the PM Yousaf Raza Gillani cabinet. He also served as the Commerce and Finance Minister in the Nawaz Sharif cabinet of 1997-1999. Ishaq Dar was assigned the finance ministry when Sartaj Aziz was posted as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in 1998. Dar continued on the post till the Sharif government''s overthrow by the military coup of General Pervez Musharraf. Ishaq Dar is also a central leader of PML-N and the parliamentary leader of PML-N in the current Senate session of 2006-2009. He was elected for the only time in the National Assembly in the 1997 general elections, when he won the NA-97 Lahore-VI general seat.

Dars economic policy achievement in the Sharif government was export-led growth as a cornerstone of economic strategy. Being made the finance minister in November 1998, he negotiated an IMF rescue package to meet an economic crisis triggered by sanctions over nuclear tests in May that year. The head of a state-run bank later proclaimed that Whether you call it voodoo economics or Darnomics, he has moved things,referring Darnomics as the unique working of Ishaq Dar when he refused to accept a devaluation or a rise in utility charges or tax rates.

For the 2008 government formation and search for the post of Finance Minister, the coalition partners PML-N and PPP are mulling over PML-N''s Ishaq Dar or PPP''s Naveed Qamar to be the new head of Finance Ministry. But whoever gets the job will have to deal with widening budget and trade deficits in an economy pressured by rising international oil prices and chronic shortages of energy and staples.

He finally won over Naveed Qamar when he was slated to become the Finance Minister in the coalition government of PPP, PML-N, ANP and JUI-F formed after 2008 elections. Naveed Qamar, on the other hand, will be the new Minister for Privatization and Investment, with additional portfolio of Minister for Ports and Shipping.

Liaqat Baloch

Liaqat Baloch hails from a far-flung area of Muzaffar Gar. He was born in December1952 in Multan. He holds Master Degree in Mass Communication in addition to LLB from University of the Punjab. He was attracted to Islami jamaiat Talba (a sister Organization of Jamaat-e-Islami Paksitan) during his school days.

Before his election as Sectary General in May 2009, he had served the Organization in different capacities at District, provincial and central level. Later he was elected as President, Islami jamiat Talaba Pakistan twice. He took active part in the student’s politics, at University of the Punjab Lahore and was elected Secretary General and then President of the Students Union University of the Punjab. He was elected President of the Asian Students Association in 1978 for championing the cause of student’s fraternity. He has served as member of WAMY (World Assembly of Muslim Youth) and that of IFS (International Federation of Islamic Students Organization). He was awarded Gold Medal for standing first in the MA Mass Communication examination.

He did not start his practical life as a Politician and not as a Lawyer or Journalist, but on the contrary, he Jumped in the arena, as a politician so that he could served the people on much larger scale. He is respected in religious and political circles of the country as a cool minded person. He is advocate of Unity and peace among different sects and schools of thought of the Muslims. That is why he was elected chairman, Milli Yakjeti Council and served as such from 1996 to 1997. He remained Secretary of the Political Bureau of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan from 1994 to 1997. He remained member of the Committee of Jamaat-e-Islami on Information as well.

He was elected member National Assembly thrice from Lahore and led Jamaat-e-Islami as its Parliamentary Party on the floor of the house setting good traditions. He was Chairman Standing Committee for Science and Technology. He also remained member of Business and that of the Public Accounts Committee. He played a key role in the establishment of Network for Human Rights, which is instrument of positive changes in the Society. Besides, he is the President of Al Khidmat Foundation Pakistan and sitting vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Paksitan too. Additionally, he heads the Punjab Chapter of the Party. He has visited Iran, China, Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Thai Land, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bangla Desh, Englaind, America, Canada and Norway as a delegate to International Conferences. He was very active in politics from MMA plate-form.

Khawaja Saad Rafique

Khawaja Saad Rafique(born November 4, 1962 in Lahore) is a Pakistani politician hailing from Punjab. His father Kh Mohammad Rafiq was a renouned Pakistani politician was one of the pioneers of opposition politics in Pakistan. He is an active central leader of PML-N and has been elected as Member of the Pakistan National Assembly since 2002 and was reelected in the Pakistani General Election in 2008. He was the Federal Minister for Culture, with additional portfolio of Youth Affairs for four months in Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani's first cabinet.

He resigned as the minister on May 12, 2008, along with nine other federal ministers of his party under protest for the restoration of deposed judges. He is a graduate of Government M.A.O. College in Lahore and received his masters from University of the Punjab in 1986. He has previously served as Member of the Punjab Assembly. He was also appointed as the special assistant of prime minister for youth affairs with the status of federal minister of state in 1999. He is a former student leader. He is a member of Central Working Committee of PML-N. He was one of the loudest voices in the country raised against the General Mushurruf dictatorship.

Moonis Elahi

Moonis Elahi is a 3rd generation politician. He is the elder son of Ch. Pervaiz Elahi former Chief Minister of Punjab, nephew of Ch. Shujaat Hussain and grandson of Ch. Zahoor Elahi who was a very prominent politician of his time.

Moonis Elahi was born on 12th April 1976 at Lahore. He studied at Lahore American School, where he studied till 10th grade and from there he moved to the London campus of the same school and graduated from there. He went to pursue his higher education from Wharton School of Business, Pennsylvania USA and did his BBA from there.

After the completion of his studies he returned to Pakistan in 1999. He took part in the general election held on 18th February 2008 for the first time and elected as MPA from Gujrat.

Meeran Karim

Meeran Karim is a political activist and organizer from Lahore, Pakistan, campaigning for a number of democratic causes, including the restoration of the deposed Pakistani judges in 2007, when she rallied with the masses in the streets and worked with a local newspaper covering the historic Lawyers’ Movement that swept Pakistan. In order to encourage youth activism, she established a youth parliament at her school which provides a platform for young people to voice their opinions. In order to promote women’s empowerment, she interned at AGHS legal aid cell in Pakistan, which provides legal aid to female victims of violence. She worked under her mentor, the prominent human rights’ lawyer, Asma Jehangir.

Ms. Karim represented Pakistan and young people from all over the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this year, and she has taken part in other conferences, including the International Youth Leadership Conference (Prague, Czech Republic), the Young Leaders Conference (Lahore), and an Initiative for Peace (India).

When Ms. Karim was nine, a military dictator overthrew the democratically elected government in Pakistan, and as a result, she attended her first protest at a relatively young age. Since then, she has always been concerned with the challenges facing Pakistan. Later this year, she will be starting her undergraduate studies at Mount Holyoke College (US), where she hopes to study international relations and political science. After completing her education, Ms. Karim intends to return home to work for Pakistan.

Shahbaz Sharif

Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, also known as Shahbaz Sharif is a well known Pakistani politician and currently President of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N). He is the brother of Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is the incumbent Chief Minister of Pakistan's most populous province Punjab since 2008. Previously, he held this position from 1997 to 1999, when his government was overturned along with all other provincial and federal governments by dictator Pervaiz Musharraf then army chief of Pakistan, in a pre-planned coup.

History and Background

He was considered a very strict administrator and good chief minister of Punjab but he also get criticism that he was a powerful chief minister of Punjab because his brother was Prime Minister of Pakistan.

He has credit of renewing Lahore and lot of development work in Punjab. Despite all controversies, Shahbaz Sharif is remembered as the best cheif minister any province in Pakistan ever had.

Family

Mian Shahbaz Sharif is the second son of a Kashmiri, named Mian Muhammad Sharif. Shahbaz Sharif's first marriage was with his cousin Nusrat Shahbaz in 1973, with the approval of his father, the late Mian Muhammad Sharif. They have two sons, Hamza and Salman and three daughters. Hamza Shahbaz is in politics and is a member of the National Assembly. Salman Shahbaz, educated at Oxford, concentrates mainly on business. Shahbaz Sharif's second marriage was with Aaliya Honey in 1993-94. They have one daughter, Khadija. He divorced her while in exile in Saudi Arabia. It is claimed that Shahbaz Sharif has a third marriage with Tehmina Durrani but he never publicly admitted it. This is the third marriage for both of them.

First term Chief Minister of Punjab

He was considered a strict and demanding administrator as the chief minister of Punjab. He received some criticism because he took charge of the office when his brother was the Prime Minister of Pakistan [citation needed] He was ousted along with his brother in the 1999 military coup, which brought Pervez Musharraf to power. He had been a famous chief minster due to his strict administration, workaholic nature and public welfare projects all over the Punjab province. He is known as Khadama Punjab these days.

Exile

Shahbaz Sharif lived in exile in London with his brother, the exiled former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif after coming from Saudi Arabia. He once tried coming back to Pakistan following a High Court decision that he was free to come back whenever he wanted. On May 11, 2004 his plane landed at Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore but he was arrested and again deported to Saudi Arabia within a few hours.

President of Pakistan Muslim League (N)

Mian Shahbaz Sharif was elected President of PML (N) on 3 August 2002 while in exile in Saudi Arabia. He was re-elected President of PML(N) for a second term on 2 August 2006.

Popular among educated, civil & armed services and the middle-class, he is thought of as a strong future candidate to become Prime Minister, of Pakistan.

Return to Pakistan

In August 2007, Supreme Court of Pakistan gave its verdict which allowed Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif to return back to Pakistan.

On September 7, 2007, judge Shabbir Hussain Chatha ordered police to arrest Shahbaz Sharif, brother of Nawaz Sharif and produce him before the court, after the hearing in Lahore. The court ruled that "Shahbaz Sharif should be arrested (at) whichever airport he lands at." Nawaz Sharif too faces detention on the pair's planned return from exile to Pakistan on September 10, 2007, to challenge President Pervez Musharraf's 8-year military rule.

His brother Mian Shahbaz Sharif changed return plans at the last minute.

Sharif was not allowed to participate in the 2008 elections because of allegations against him. His son Hamza Sharif was supposed to run from a NA seat in Lahore but due to the death of a candidate the elections were postponed.

Second term as Chief Minister

On 8 June 2008, Shahbaz Sharif was elected as Chief Minister of Punjab, receiving 265 votes from the members of the 371-seat provincial assembly. He was the only candidate, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q boycotted the vote. Speaking after his election, he called on Musharraf to resign. He won a vote of confidence on 9 June, receiving 266 votes.

Mian Shahbaz Sharif after becoming Chief Minister of Punjab was welcomed by the public and media who were keen to see how he pursues his unfinished agenda of public welfare and reforms in education sector.

His second term as Chief Minister lasted until 25 February 2009, when a three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Justice Moosa K. Leghari, declared him ineligible to contest elections, took away his seat in the Punjab Assembly, and thereby removed him from office. On 31 March 2009, a five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court granted stay order on an earlier decision of the apex court, in which Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif were disqualified from holding public office. As a result, Shahbaz Sharif returned to office as Chief Minister. He is fighting against corruption in the society in general and government functionaries in particular. He seems to have vision; a mega plan to transform Lahore into a true High-Tech City in Pakistan as well as an important high tech center in the entire world.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan (born on September 27, 1945, Murree, Islamabad Pakistan) is a Barrister-at-Law by profession and a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is also a writer, human rights activist, politician, former Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Interior, Narcotics Control (1988-1990) and Education. Elected to the Senate of Pakistan in 1994, he eventually succeeded as the leader of the House and the leader of the Opposition between the years 1996 and 1999. Currently he is president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

In the wake of 9 March events in Pakistan, barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has become a sign of resistance to anti-democratic moves. His eloquent speeches and his command over Pakistani law make him one of the most recognizable politicians of today. Aitzaz Ahsan is also an active member of Pakistan Peoples Party.

Aitzaz Ahsan comes from a family background steeped in politics. He received his early education from Aitchison College and the Government College, Lahore. Later he studied law at Cambridge University, UK and was called to the bar at Grays’ Inn in 1967. Aitzaz

Upon his return from Cambridge, Aitzaz Ahsan appeared for and stood first in Pakistan's prestigious Central Superior Services (CSS) examination. Objecting to the rule of General Ayub Khan, however, he refused to join government service during the time of military rule. This act of youthful defiance made him the first, and perhaps only, individual to top the CSS exam yet decline government service.

Aitzaz Ahsan started his political career in the 1970s. When Chaudhry Anwar Samma, a PPP MPA from Gujrat, was murdered in March 1975, Aitzaz Ahsan was elected, un-opposed to the Punjab Assembly and inducted in the provincial cabinet. He was given the portfolio of information, planning and development.

During the PNA demonstrations against the alleged rigging of elections by the PPP government in 1977, the police opened fire on a lawyers rally in Lahore. Aitzaz, who was a provincial minister in the Punjab Cabinet at the time, resigned in protest. He was subsequently also expelled from the People's Party for this act of insubordination.

After General Zia's coup, Aitzaz became an active leader of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), and rejoined the Pakistan Peoples Party during the martial law period. During this period he was jailed several times as a political prisoner without trial for active participation in the MRD movement.

In 1988, Aitzaz Ahsan was elected to the National Assembly from Lahore as a a People's Party candidate. He won reelection in 1990, but lost in 1993. In 1994 he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan. He was reelected to the National Assembly as a Peoples Party candidate in the 2002 General Elections, when he won from two seats - his traditional seat in Lahore, as well as from Bhawalnagar in Southern Punjab.

A senior advocate in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Ahsan is a well respected Pakistani lawyer, consistently given the highest rank by Chambers and Partners ranking of legal professionals. He also made legal history of sorts by having defended two Prime Ministers in the court of law. Having previously fought cases in defence of Ms Bhutto in 2001 he took up a case in defence of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

During his most recent tenure as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan he was a member of the Standing Committee on Interior and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Chief Justice case:
Recently Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan successsfully represented Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's case in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The hearing was being conducted by a full panel of judges headed by Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, and the 13-member panel reinstated the Chief Justice declaring his suspension by Pervez Musharraf regime "illegal."

Human rights activist:
He is also an indefatigable human rights activist and a founder & vice-president of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. He has been incarcerated under arbitrary detention laws many times by military and authoritarian regimes. During one such prolonged detention, he wrote The Indus Saga.

During Emergency:
Aitzaz Ahsan was arrested soon after the declaration of emergency/martial law. youtube video 1 youtube video 2/. There have also rumors that he is being kept in solitary confinement and bring tortured. Recently, 33 US Senators wrote to President Musharraf to release Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan immediately, as he is widely respected all around the world.

Literary Contribution:
Possessing a literary penchant, he has also authored the book “The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan” and its Urdu translation, “Sindh Sagar Aur Qyam-e-Pakistan” which presents the cultural history of Pakistan. [3]

He has also co-authored the book "Divided by Democracy" with Lord Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics.