Khawaja Asif facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Khawaja Muhammad Asif
خواجہ محمد آصف
Asif in 2015
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 March 2024
President	Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister	Shehbaz Sharif
Preceded by	Anwar Ali Hyder (caretaker)
In office 19 April 2022 – 10 August 2023
President	Arif Alvi
Prime Minister	Shehbaz Sharif
Preceded by	Pervez Khattak
Succeeded by	Anwar Ali Hyder (caretaker)
In office 27 November 2013 – 28 July 2017
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister	Nawaz Sharif
Preceded by	Naveed Qamar
Succeeded by	Khurram Dastgir Khan
33rd Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 4 August 2017 – 26 April 2018
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister	Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
Preceded by	Sartaj Aziz (as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs)
Succeeded by	Khurram Dastgir Khan
Minister for Water and Power
In office 7 June 2013 – 28 July 2017
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister	Nawaz Sharif
Deputy	Abid Sher Ali
Preceded by	Ahmad Mukhtar
Succeeded by	Syed Javed Ali Shah (as minister for Water Resources) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (as minister for Energy)
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources
In office 31 March 2008 – 13 May 2008
President	Pervez Musharraf
Prime Minister	Yusuf Raza Gillani
Succeeded by	Asim Hussain
Minister for Sports
In office 31 March 2008 – 13 May 2008
President	Pervez Musharraf
Prime Minister	Yusuf Raza Gillani
Member of National Assembly of Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 February 2024
Constituency	NA-71 Sialkot-II
In office 13 August 2018 – 10 August 2023
Constituency	NA-73 (Sialkot-II)
In office 1 June 2013 – 31 May 2018
Constituency	NA-110 Sialkot-I
In office 17 March 2008 – 16 March 2013
Constituency	NA-110 Sialkot-I
In office 16 November 2002 – 15 November 2007
Constituency	NA-110 Sialkot-I
In office 17 February 1997 – 12 October 1999
Constituency	NA-85 Sialkot-I
In office 19 October 1993 – 5 November 1996
Constituency	NA-85 Sialkot-I
Member of the Senate of Pakistan
In office 1991–1994
Personal details
Born	(1949-08-09) 9 August 1949 (age 75) Sialkot, West Punjab, Pakistan
Political party	Pakistan Muslim League (N) (1993-present)
Spouse	Musarrat Asif Khawaja
Relations	Farooq Naek (cousin)
Parent	Khawaja Muhammad Safdar (father)
Alma mater	University of the Punjab

Khawaja Muhammad Asif (Urdu: خواجہ محمد آصف; born 9 August 1949) is a Pakistani politician who serves as the Defence Minister of Pakistan from since 19 April 2022, he also has the Responsibility of Federal Minister for Aviation since 11 March 2024. Previously having Defence Ministry post from April 2022 to August 2023 in Shehbaz Sharif's Government. Previously, he had also been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till August 2023. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2018 and till date. Since May 2019 he is nominated by PMLN to act as the Parliamentary Leader in National Assembly, he acted in this role till the dissolution of the assembly in 2023 and again took the charge after elections on 2 March 2024.

He served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to April 2018 and simultaneously served as the Minister for Defence and Minister for Water and Power in the third Sharif ministry from 2013 to 2017.

Asif began his political career after getting elected to the Senate of Pakistan during the Sharif's first ministry in 1991. Since 1997, he had served as a member of the federal cabinet, in various positions. From 1997 to 1999, he was as the chairman of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan during the second government of Nawaz Sharif. He briefly held the cabinet portfolios of the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources in the Gillani ministry in 2008, with an additional charge as Minister for Sports.

He is a Member of National Assembly of Pakistan and was elected in 2024 from Sialkot.

Early life and education

Asif was born on 9 August 1949 in Sialkot, Punjab, to Khawaja Muhammad Safdar, an influential politician. He belongs to a Punjabi family of Kashmiri ancestry, whose ancestors settled in the Punjab generations ago from the Kashmir Valley. He received his early education at Cadet College Hasan Abdal. He attained his bachelor's degree from Government College University Lahore, before getting his L.L.B. degree from the University Law College, Lahore, in 1970. He later earned a Master’s in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1975.

Asif is a banker by profession and has worked in the different banks of the United Arab Emirates, where he lived for several years but returned to Pakistan following his father's death in 1991, in order to continue his father's politics. He has a son and three daughters.

In 2007, he was awarded honorary doctorate degree in international relations by the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations.

Political career

Asif began his political career in 1991 on returning to Pakistan following the death of his father after living in the United Arab Emirates for many years. In 1991, he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan as a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) for three years. He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-110 (Sialkot) in 1993 general election.

He was re-elected to the National Assembly in 1997 general election Khawaja Asif contested 2002 general election elections from NA 110 and won his seats by taking 42,743 votes.

Asif contested 2008 general election from NA 110 and obtained 73,007 votes.

In 2013 Pakistani general election, Asif was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly from NA 110 taking 92,848 votes against his opponent Usman Dar who obtained 71,573 votes.

He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-73 (Sialkot-II) in 2018 Pakistani general election. He received 116,957 votes and defeated Usman Dar who received 115,464 votes. He supports financially independent Pakistan. In May, 2019 he took the charge and became the Parliamentary Leader of PMLN in the National Assembly of Pakistan.

He was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PML-N from constituency NA-71 Sialkot-II in 2024 Pakistani general election, he received 119,001 and defeated Independent Candidate Rehana Imtiaz Dar, who is mother of Asif's former election rival Usman Dar, She received 100,482 votes.

Ministerial career

In 1997 Government

He was appointed as the chairman of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan with the status of a minister during Second Nawaz Sharif ministry in 1997. His tenure was terminated following the counter-coup 1999 coup d'état in which then Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in response to Sharif indirectly hijacking Musharraf's plane and ordering it to land outside Pakistan.

During 2008 coalition government

He was briefly appointed as the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, as well as the Minister of Sports in the Gillani ministry in 2008 before his party pulled out of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government.

During 2013 Third Nawaz Sharif ministry

In June 2013, he was appointed as the Minister of Water and Power and later given additional portfolio of Minister of Defence in November 2013 under Third Nawaz Sharif ministry.

During 2017 Abbasi ministry

He had ceased to hold ministerial office in July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Panama Papers case decision. Following the election of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Asif was inducted into the federal cabinet of Abbasi and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs for the first time. Earlier, Pakistan had no Minister for Foreign Affairs since the PML-N came to power in May 2013 as former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself held the cabinet portfolio of foreign affairs.