Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry

Barrister
Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry
Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry
سلطان محمود چوہدری
President of Azad Kashmir
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 25 August 2021
Prime Minister	Abdul Qayyum Niazi; Sardar Tanveer Ilyas; Chaudhry Anwarul Haq
Preceded by	Masood Khan
Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir
	In office; 30 July 1996 – 24 July 2001
Preceded by	Abdul Qayyum Khan
Succeeded by	Sardar Sikandar Hayat
President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Azad Kashmir
	In office; 6 February 2015 – 9 September 2021
Chairman	Imran Khan
Succeeded by	Sardar Tanveer Ilyas
Member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
	In office; 3 August 2021 – 25 August 2021
Preceded by	Himself
Succeeded by	Yasir Sultan Chaudhry
Constituency	LA-3 Mirpur-III
	In office; 24 November 2019 – 30 July 2021
Preceded by	Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed
Succeeded by	Himself
Constituency	LA-3 Mirpur-III
	In office; 1996 – 25 July 2016
Preceded by	Arshad Mahmood Ghazi
Succeeded by	Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed
Constituency	LA-3 Mirpur-III
	In office; 1985–1991
Preceded by	Chauhdry Noor Hussain
Succeeded by	Arshad Mahmood Ghazi
Constituency	LA-3 Mirpur-III
Personal details
Political party	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Other political; affiliations	Pakistan Peoples Party; Peoples Muslim League; Azad Muslim Conference
Children	Yasir Sultan Chaudhry (son)
Alma mater	Lincoln's Inn Government Gordon College

Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry (Urdu: سلطان محمود چوہدری) is an Azad Kashmiri politician who hails from Mirpur. He served as Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir between July 1996 to July 2001 and is currently serving as the President of Azad Kashmir since 25 August 2021.^[1]^[2]

Early life

Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry is the son of the late Kashmiri leader Chaudhary Noor Hussain Jatt who also founded Azad Muslim Conference along with Sardar Ibrahim Khan but after Sardar Ibrahim Khan left the party, he led it alone. He belongs to a Jatt family and his family has contributions in the movement for a free Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been a member of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.^[3]^[2]

After completing his education, he came back from England to Mirpur in 1987 and joined his father's party Azad Muslim Conference and contested elections and won.

Political career

In the second elections there, Chaudhry Muhammad Rasheed, Chaudhry Khadim Hussain and Chaudhry Yasin won. Then Sultan Mehmood merged his party with the Liberation league and became its President. Later he left that party and joined Pakistan Peoples Party and became president of Pakistan People's Party for Azad Kashmir. Then he became Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He faced some problems in the PPP which led to him quitting the party. He then founded his own party Peoples Muslim League in 2005 and his party won 5 seats in the Legislative Assembly. Later when Benazir Bhutto addressed the issue, he (Sultan Mehmood)apologised and was allowed to join the party again. He rejoined the Pakistan Peoples Party again but won no seats in the AJK legislative assembly. In February 2015, he joined Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf and became president of its Azad Kashmir chapter.^[2]

On 24 November 2019, he became a Member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in the by-elections in Mirpur. He owns a shopping plaza in Islamabad and his family owns brick-making factories. Many of their properties were sealed by Sardar Abdul Qayyum when he was the Prime Minister.

He joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on 6 February 2015^[2] and lost the elections for the first time in 25 years on 21 July 2016.^[4]

He was recently elected as the President of Azad Kashmir on 17 August 2021. However in April 2023 his greed to become Prime Minister of the state, cost his son and brother in law their ministry’s ^[3]