32nd Minister of Railways (Pakistan)
Khawaja Saad Rafique
(
Urdu
:
????? ??? ????
; born 4 November 1962) is a
Pakistani
politician who had been a member of the
National Assembly of Pakistan
from October 2018 till August 2023 and the federal minister for Railways.
A leader of the
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)
, Rafique previously served as the
Minister for Railways
in
Abbasi cabinet
from August 2017 to May 2018 and in the
Sharif's third ministry
from 2013 to 2017 and held the cabinet portfolio of Minister for Culture and the Minister for Youth Affairs briefly during the
Gillani ministry
in 2008.
Rafique had been a member of the
National Assembly of Pakistan
from 2002 to May 2018 and served as Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Youth Affairs from 1997 to 1999 under Sharif's second ministry.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Rafique was born on 4 November 1962 in Lahore, Pakistan
[1]
[2]
to Khawaja Mohammad Rafiq and
Begum Farhat Rafique
.
[3]
He was a small-time businessman in the city and also a politician, being a
Pakistan Movement
activist who later founded his own party, the Pakistan Ittehad Party, and became an opposition leader, criticizing the
Pakistan People's Party
and
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
. On December 20, 1972, while his party observed a Black Day alongside Air Marshal (r)
Asghar Khan
's
Tehreek-e-Istiqlal
, he was shot dead by alleged PPP party members.
[4]
The family blamed the crime on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
[5]
His mother is a politician as well a qualified educationist, running the Khwaja Mohammad Rafiq Memorial School while also being active in different social welfare groups.
[6]
Rafique enrolled at the
M.A.O. College
[5]
and made a
transfer
to
Punjab University
in 1982. He graduated with a
BA
in
Political science
in 1984, and later attained
MA
in
Political science
in 1986.
[7]
Political career
[
edit
]
Khawaja Saad Rafique started his political career as a student leader representing Muslim Student Federation, from MAO College Lahore in early 1980s, and later on joined the PML-N.
[5]
In
1997 Pakistani general elections
, Rafique participated in the elections on the PML-N's ticket and was elected as the member of
Provincial Assembly of the Punjab
for the first time.
[7]
He was appointed Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Youth Affairs by then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif,
[8]
but his tenure was terminated by General
Pervez Musharraf
after the latter's
1999 Pakistani coup d'etat
. He was among the PML-N leaders who confronted Musharraf in the absence of Nawaz Sharif.
[5]
In
2002 Pakistani general elections
, Rafique was elected as member of National Assembly from
Constituency NA-119
for the first time.
[9]
During the period, he served as president of PML-N Punjab.
[7]
In
2008 Pakistani general elections
, Khawaja Saad Rafique was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly for the second time from
Constituency NA-125
.
[9]
He was appointed the
Minister for Culture
and Minister for Youth Affairs in the
Gillani ministry
[9]
but he resigned after PML-N's went on to lead the
Lawyer's movement
to restore the
judiciary
.
[7]
[10]
He was eventually arrested and imprisoned after calling for
Musharraf
's removal. He, along with party colleagues and lawyers, took to the streets calling for the resignation of Musharraf and the reinstatement of judges deposed by him. He was also put behind bars for partaking in violent protests for the said purpose.
[7]
[11]
Among
PML-N
's leaders, Rafique was one of the activists who kept the PML-N alive during the Musharraf government.
[7]
In
2013 Pakistani general election
, Rafique was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly for the third time.
[9]
[5]
His wife, Ghazala Saad, was also allotted PML-N's ticket.
[12]
In June 2013, Rafique was appointed
Minister of Railways
by the
Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif
and took
oath
on 8 June 2013.
[13]
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.
[14]
Following the election of
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Rafique was inducted into the federal cabinet of Abbasi and was appointed Minister for Railways for the second time.
[15]
[16]
Upon the dissolution of the National Assembly on the expiration of its term on 31 May 2018, Rafique ceased to hold the office as Federal Minister for Railways.
[17]
He was re-elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency PP-168 (Lahore-XXV) in
2018 Pakistani general election
.
[18]
Rafique also ran for the seat of the National Assembly from Constituency NA-131 (Lahore-IX) but was unsuccessful as he was defeated by Prime minister Imran Khan along with 4 other seats from which he won in general election of 2018.
He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-131 (Lahore-IX) in the by-election held on 14 October 2018 after Imran Khan resigned from this seat and kept his home-city seat of Mianwali.
[19]
After the removal of Prime Minister Imran Khan through the vote of no confidence Khawaja Saad Rafique was made Railway Minister in Shehbaz Sharif's Cabinet.
[20]
Rafique was defeated by
Latif Khosa
in the General Election held on 8 February
2024.
[21]
Family
[
edit
]
He has married
twice
.
[22]
His first wife
Ghazala Saad Rafique
has been a member of
Provincial Assembly of Punjab
.
[23]
He has two daughters and one son from his first wife.
[24]
His brother
Khawaja Salman Rafique
has been a member of
Provincial Assembly of the Punjab
and was Provincial Minister of Punjab for Health.
[25]
In April 2017, it was reported that Rafique has secretly married a
PTV
host Shafaq Hira, without the consent of his first wife, Ghazala.
[26]
[27]
In June 2018, Rafique disclosed his second marriage to Shafaq Hira in his nomination papers for 2018 general election.
[28]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Detail Information"
. 19 April 2014. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014
. Retrieved
9 July
2017
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"If elections are held on time…"
.
www.thenews.com.pk
. Retrieved
4 December
2017
.
- ^
"Legislators from LAHORE (PP-116 to PP-133)"
.
pap.gov.pk
. Punjab Assembly
. Retrieved
3 August
2018
.
- ^
Bhatia, Harbans Singh.
Portrait of a Political Murder
. Deep & Deep Publications. p. 32.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Ghumman, Khawar (7 June 2013).
"Experience and loyalty count in the PML-N kitchen cabinet"
. Dawn.
Archived
from the original on 29 October 2016
. Retrieved
1 November
2016
.
- ^
Women's Year Book of Pakistan
, Volume 3 (1986), p. 307
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Dawn.com (28 April 2013).
"Khawaja Saad Rafique by Dawn"
. Dawn Newspaper, April 2013. Dawn Newspaper.
Archived
from the original on 25 October 2014
. Retrieved
23 September
2014
.
- ^
Jamil, Farah (7 June 2013).
"26 member Cabinet to take oath today"
.
Aaj News
.
Archived
from the original on 21 January 2017
. Retrieved
31 October
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Federal cabinet unveiled: Enter the ministers - The Express Tribune"
.
The Express Tribune
. 8 June 2013.
Archived
from the original on 26 February 2017
. Retrieved
7 August
2017
.
- ^
Wasim, Amir (10 April 2008).
"Coalition move gathers momentum: President's impeachment"
. Dawn Newspapers, 2008. Dawn Newspapers, 2008.
Archived
from the original on 25 October 2014
. Retrieved
23 September
2014
.
- ^
"Saad finally on other side of bars"
. Dawn. 23 November 2007.
Archived
from the original on 13 October 2016
. Retrieved
12 October
2016
.
- ^
Mahmood, Amjad (31 March 2013).
"PML-N influential groups prevail: Workers 'ignored' for women's reserved seats"
. Dawn Newspaper, 31 March 2013. Dawn Newspaper.
Archived
from the original on 25 October 2014
. Retrieved
23 September
2014
.
- ^
Hussain, Tayyab (8 June 2013).
"25-member cabinet takes oath"
. Pakistan Today. Pakistan Today.
Archived
from the original on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
22 September
2014
.
- ^
"PM Nawaz Sharif steps down; federal cabinet stands dissolved"
.
Daily Pakistan Global
.
Archived
from the original on 28 July 2017
. Retrieved
28 July
2017
.
- ^
"New cabinet takes oath: Khawaja Asif foreign minister, Ahsan Iqbal interior minister"
.
DAWN.COM
. 4 August 2017.
Archived
from the original on 4 August 2017
. Retrieved
4 August
2017
.
- ^
"Pakistan Swears In New Federal Cabinet"
.
Newsweek Pakistan
. 4 August 2017.
Archived
from the original on 4 August 2017
. Retrieved
4 August
2017
.
- ^
"Notification"
(PDF)
. Cabinet division. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 1 June 2018
. Retrieved
1 June
2018
.
- ^
"Pakistan election 2018 results: National and provincial assemblies"
.
Samaa TV
.
Archived
from the original on 29 July 2018
. Retrieved
3 September
2018
.
- ^
"By-Election 2018: PTI, PML-N win four NA seats each"
.
Geo News
. 15 October 2018
. Retrieved
15 October
2018
.
- ^
"Ministers of PM Shehbaz Sharif's 37-member cabinet take oath"
. Retrieved
5 June
2023
.
- ^
Web Desk (10 February 2024).
"NA-122 live results update: Latif Khosa defeats Khawaja Saad Rafique"
.
www.geo.tv
. Retrieved
29 March
2024
.
- ^
Jahangir, Ramsha (25 June 2018).
"Marriage, assets and conjecture rule #Elections2018"
.
- ^
"Punjab Assembly"
.
www.pap.gov.pk
.
Archived
from the original on 5 August 2017
. Retrieved
4 August
2017
.
- ^
"PML-N's Saad Rafique admits to second marriage in nomination papers"
. ARY News. 16 June 2018
. Retrieved
7 February
2020
.
- ^
"Punjab Assembly"
.
www.pap.gov.pk
.
Archived
from the original on 14 June 2017
. Retrieved
4 August
2017
.
- ^
"Marvi Memon 'secretly married Ishaq Dar for Rs1.5 billion haq meher'
"
. 8 July 2017.
- ^
"Silent scandal: Khawaja Saad Rafique 'secretly marries' PTV anchor Dr Shafaq"
.
Daily Pakistan Global
. Retrieved
14 June
2018
.
- ^
"Saad Rafique admits second marriage with PTV news anchor in nomination papers"
.
Daily Pakistan Global
. Retrieved
14 June
2018
.
Political offices
|
Preceded by
|
Minister for Youth Affairs
2008?2008
|
Succeeded by
|
Preceded by
|
Minister for Culture
2008?2008
|
Succeeded by
|
Preceded by
|
Minister for Railway
2013?present
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Incumbent
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Ministers of State
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Federal ministers
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Advisers
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Ministers of State
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Federal Ministers
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