Hammad Azhar


Muhammad Hammad Azhar is a Pakistani politician who is the current Federal Minister of Industries and Production, in office since 6 April 2020.
Previously, he served as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs from 10 July 2019 till 5 April 2020. He served as Minister of State for Revenue from 11 September 2018 to 9 July 2019 and then briefly as Federal Minister for Revenue from 8 July 2019 to 9 July 2019.
He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018.

Early life and education

He was born to the former Governor of Punjab Mian Muhammad Azhar. in a Famous Political Arain Mian Family of Lahore.
He is a barrister by profession. He received his early education from Aitchison College and later was a pupil at Wellington College. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Development Economics from the SOAS, University of London and completed his postgraduate diploma in law from the BPP Law School.He is a member of The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.

Political career

The World Economic Forum WEF on Wednesday named Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar as one of its Young Global Leaders from South Asia. According to a press release, the WEF identifies the world's most promising leaders under the age of 40 who are driving innovation for positive change across civil society, arts, culture, government and business. Azhar has been named alongside 114 young global leaders that make up the class of 2020. Pakistani journalist Atika Rehman is also among those selected from South Asia for the YGL 2020 intake.
Azhar joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2011.
He ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-121 in 2013 Pakistani general election but was unsuccessful. He received 68,307 votes and lost the seat to Mehr Ishtiaq Ahmed.
Azhar was elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-126 in 2018 Pakistani general election.
On 11 September 2018, Azhar was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan and was appointed as Minister of State for Revenue.
On 11 June 2019, Hammad presented the 2019-20 annual budget of Pakistan in National Assembly of Pakistan.
On 8 July 2019, Azhar was elevated to the post of Federal Minister and was appointed as Federal Minister for Revenue. The next day, he ceased to hold the office of federal minister for Revenue Division and was appointed the federal minister for Economic Affairs Division.
On 6 April 2020 he was removed from the position of Federal Minister for Economic Affairs,and was given the portfolio of Federal Minister for Industries and Production.
On 12 June 2020, Hammad presented the Rs. 7,294.9 billion 2020-21 annual 'Corona' budget of Pakistan in the National Assembly of Pakistan reflecting a reduction in its size by 11 percent from the budget estimates for fiscal 2019-20.
"Formulation and presentation of the budget in times of the coronavirus pandemic that besets the world at present and is on the ascent in Pakistan at the moment with total uncertainty about its descent is almost an impossible task, particularly for a developing country like Pakistan and therefore, the present budget can at best be viewed as 'work in progress' that would need a revision/tweaking as the economic fallout from the pandemic continues to unfold."

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