Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi

Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi
سردار عبدالقیوم خان نیازی
13th Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir
In office
4 August 2021 – 14 April 2022
PresidentMasood Khan
Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry
Preceded byFarooq Haider Khan
Succeeded bySardar Tanveer Ilyas
Member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 August 2021
Preceded byChaudhry Muhammad Yasin Gulshan
ConstituencyLA-18 Poonch & Sudhnoti-I
In office
2006–2011
President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Azad Jammu and Kashmir
Incumbent
Assumed office
24 April 2023
ChairmanImran Khan
Gohar Ali Khan
Preceded bySardar Tanveer Ilyas
Minister for Food Government of Azad Kashmir
In office
2006–2008
Minister for Forest Government of Azad Kashmir
In office
2010–2011
Personal details
Born1959 (age 64–65)[1]
Dara Sher Khan, Azad Kashmir
NationalityKashmiri
Political partyPTI (2019-present)
Other political
affiliations		All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (until 2019)

Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi (Urdu: سردار عبدالقیوم خان نیازی) is a Kashmiri politician from Azad Jammu and Kashmir who was the 13th Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir from August 2021 to April 2022.[2][3] He has been a member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative assembly since August 2021.[4] He has been the president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter since April 2023.[5]

Personal life

Niazi was born in Darra Sher Khan, a village in the Poonch District of Azad Kashmir, being one of the 8 children of Fazal Dad, a councillor from Poonch, and they belong to the Dulli tribe of Poonch, Niazi not being indicative of some Pashtun ancestry but instead a title he chose in the '90s when he was a member of the district council, as his name was regularly confused with that of Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, who served as the President and the PM of AJK in the past.[6]

His elder brother, Haji Ghulam Mustafa, has also been a minister while his younger brother, Sardar Habib Zia, is a lawyer and his son a councilor in the United Kingdom.[7]

Political career

Graduating from the Azad Kashmir University, and beginning his political career in 1982 as district councilor in Poonch, he and his family have been traditionally associated with the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJKMC) party.[7]

Niazi became a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly on an AJKMC ticket in 2006 and held from 2006 to 2011 different ministerial portfolios in prison, finances and others.[7]

Besides serving in the district council, Niazi remained the minister for food security between 2006 and 2008 in the Muslim Conference government, and the forest minister in the second cabinet of Sardar Ateeq from 2010 to 2011.[8]

Niazi was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly on a ticket of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the 2021 elections from LA-18 Poonch-III. After taking oath as a member, he received 33 votes in the Assembly, a majority, to become the 13th Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. On 14 April 2022, Niazi tendered his resignation as Prime Minister after a move by his parliamentary party, the PTI, to replace him with regional president Sardar Tanveer Ilyas through a vote of no-confidence.[9][10][11]

References

  1. ^ "Prime Minister Abdul Qayyum Niazi: A dark horse of politics in Azad Kashmir". The Express Tribune. 2021-08-04. Archived from the original on 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  2. ^ "PTI's Abdul Qayyum Niazi elected Azad Kashmir's new prime minister". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  3. ^ "PM Imran names Abdul Qayyum Niazi for AJK PM slot". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  4. ^ "Imran Khan nominates Abdul Qayyum Niazi as next premier of PoK". The Hindu. PTI. 2021-08-04. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  5. ^ Web Desk (24 April 2023). "Former AJK PM Abdul Qayyum Niazi Appointed PTI President". BOL News. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  6. ^ Naqash, Tariq (5 August 2021). "PROFILE: How new AJK PM became Niazi". Dawn News. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Satti, Waqar (4 August 2021). "How Abdul Qayyum Niazi got the PM's nod for AJK's top slot". Geo News. Archived from the original on 2021-08-04. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  8. ^ Dawn (2021-08-04). "PTI's Abdul Qayyum Niazi elected new prime minister of AJK". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  9. ^ "Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi resigns as AJK PM". Dawn. 14 April 2022.
  10. ^ "AJK PM Qayyum Niazi resigns from office". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  11. ^ Naqash, Tariq (2021-08-04). "PTI's Abdul Qayyum Niazi elected new prime minister of AJK". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2023-04-12.