In the midst of Pakistan’s political turmoil, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the country’s former Foreign Minister and Vice-President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, filed his nomination for Prime Minister, after Imran Khan was ousted from the post for the first time in the country by a no-confidence vote. Amir Dogar proposed Qureshi’s nomination, which was seconded by Maleeka Bokhari.
The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has nominated its President Shehbaz Sharif for the position of new Prime Minister, which will be elected on Monday. Qureshi and Sharif both filed nomination papers with Pakistan’s National Assembly, which will elect a new leader on Monday at 2 p.m.
“Nomination papers of Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Shah Mehmood Qureshi for the election of Leader of the House/Prime Minister accepted,” the National Assembly tweeted on Sunday. The nomination papers were thoroughly examined. Both candidates’ nomination papers were accepted after a thorough examination.”
Who is Shah Mahmood Qureshi?
Qureshi, who served as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister for two terms, from 2008 to 2011 and from 2018 to 2022, is known to come from a powerful and wealthy Multan family.
He graduated from Aitchison College in Lahore on June 22, 1956, and then went on to Cambridge University to study law and then Corpus Christi College to study history.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi entered in politics in 1985
Qureshi first entered politics in 1985, when he was elected to the Punjab Assembly from his hometown of Multan. Qureshi joined the Pakistan Muslim League in 1986 and became friends with Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s former prime minister. Qureshi was re-elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1988, when he was appointed Minister of Planning and Development in Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet, and again in 1990, when he was also appointed Punjab Finance Minister.
In 1993, Qureshi defected from the PML to join the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Qureshi was the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in Benazir Bhutto’s cabinet. He was appointed as the spokesperson for PPP in 1996.
Qureshi was appointed President of the PPP Punjab by Bhutto in 2006. Qureshi was given the position of Foreign Minister despite being seriously considered as a Prime Ministerial candidate in the 2008 elections. Shah Mahmood Qureshi had to deal with major foreign relations issues like the Mumbai Terror Attacks of 2008 and the Raymond Davis fiasco shortly after becoming Foreign Minister, which led to his dismissal from the cabinet.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi eventually joined the PTI in 2011 and has remained a key member of the party ever since. Although, since joining the party, his rivalry with Javed Hashmi, who is also from Multan, has been a constant.