Shah Mehmood Qureshi

Who is Shah Mehmood Qureshi?

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi is an Pakistani politician, agriculturist and a parliamentarian who is currently serving as the Vice Chairman and Deputy Paramilitary Leader Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Prior to that, he was the Foreign Minister of Pakistan and high-ranking member of the central executive committee of Pakistan Peoples Party until being deposed by the central committee and the foreign ministry, on an issue involving the Raymond Davis affair, 9 February 2011. Qureshi was elected a member of national assembly from NA-150 and was the runner up from NA-228 and NA-148 on 11 May 2013 on the ticket of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Qureshi is also the current Sajjada Nashin and custodian of the Mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam and of the Shrine of Hazrat Baha-ud-din Zakariya.

After earning a degree in law from the Cambridge University, his political career started in 1985 when he became member of Punjab assembly, between 1988 and 1993 he remained a member of Pakistan Muslim League and served as the provincial minister overseeing the portfolios of planning and development and finance. Joining Benazir Bhutto led PPP in 1993 and served as the state minister for parliamentary affairs till 1996. Between 1999 and 2007 Qureshi presided of the Punjab chapter of PPP. In 2008, He was appointed foreign minister by the PPP led collective leadership alliance containing the MQM, ANP and JUI-F formed after the 2008 general elections. However in February 2011, Qureshi fell out with the central committee that led to his ouster by Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, and by November 2011, Qureshi joined Imran Khan's populist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. An agriculturalist by trade, Qureshi is also the president of the Farmers Association of Pakistan.