Shafqat Mahmood (Urdu: شفقت محمود; 19 February 1950) is a Pakistani bureaucrat-turned-politician who is the current Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, and Federal Minister for National History and Literary Heritage, in office since 20 August 2018. He was previously part of the Pakistan Administrative Service. He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, since August 2018.
Previously, he was member of the National Assembly from June 2013 to May 2018 and member of the Senate of Pakistan from March 1994 to March 2000. He served as Federal Minister for Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Ministry of Environment, Urban Affair Forestry and Wildlife and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid from November 1996 to February 1997. He served as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information from 1999 to 2000 during Pervez Musharraf military rule.
Early life and education
He was born on 19 February 1950.[1] and later studied in Government College University, Lahore before completing his Certificate of Merit from University of the Punjab in 1970.[3] He received a degree of Masters in Psychology[3] and Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard University in 1981.[4] He obtained Masters in Public Policy and Administration from University of Southern California in 1987.[4]
Early career
He started his career by joining the Pakistan Administrative Service cadre of the civil bureaucracy in 1973.[5] He served as Assistant Commissioner of Murree and Pakpatan from 1975 to 1978.[4] He was then made Deputy Secretary to the Government of the Punjab where he served till 1980.[4] He served as Deputy Commissioner of Gujranwala and Dera Ghazi Khan for five years and also as an Additional Commissioner Afghan Refugees Organization for short time in 1985.[4] He served as Additional Secretary Finance of Government of Punjab in 1988 to 1989.[6][4] Later, he joined Prime Minister's Secretariat and served as Joint Secretary from 1989 to 1990.[6]
Political career
He left the civil service and joined Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1990 to begin his political career.[3] He was appointed as political secretary to then Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and remained Spokesperson for PPP to represent the party on foreign tours.[3] He remained close aide of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and[3] of Benazir Bhutto.[7]
He was elected to the Senate of Pakistan as a candidate of PPP from Islamabad in March 1994.[3][4] He was re-elected to the Senate as an independent candidate from Islamabad in March 1997.[5] He remained member of the Senate till March 2000.[5]
On 5 November 1996, he was inducted into the federal cabinet of caretaker Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid and was appointed as Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock. On 12 November, he was given additional ministerial portfolio of Ministry of Environment, Urban Affair Forestry and Wildlife. On 25 November, he was given additional ministerial portfolio of Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development. He served as Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock till 15 December 1996. He remained Minister for Environment, Urban Affair Forestry and Wildlife, and Minister for Environment, Local Government and Rural Development till 17 February 1997.[8]
He became part of military government setup following 1999 Pakistani coup d'état and served as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information from 1999 to 2000.[6] After his resignation, he began writing columns for an English-language newspaper The News International[9] and used to criticize Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its chief Imran Khan.[6]
After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, he quit PPP.[7] He joined PTI in November 2011[4] and served as information secretary of PTI from December 2011 to March 2013.[6]
He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-126 (Lahore-IX) as a candidate of PTI in 2013 Pakistani general election.[10][11][12] He received 97,933 votes and defeated Khawaja Ahmad Hassan, a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N).[13]
In November 2015, he resigned from the post of PTI organizer in Lahore after the party's poor performance in local government elections in held in October 2015.[14] In May 2017, he became central information secretary of PTI.[6]
He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-130 (Lahore-VIII) in 2018 Pakistani general election.[15]
On 18 August, Imran Khan formally announced his federal cabinet structure and Mahmood was named as Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training and Minister for National History and Literary Heritage.[16] On 20 August 2018, he was sworn in as a Federal Minister in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan.[17]
On 15 November 2019, he was elected as the President of UNESCO's Education Commission
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