Qasim Suri


Qasim Khan Suri is a Pakistani politician who is the current and 19th Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018.

Early life and education

He was born in January 1969 in Quetta, to a Pashtun family from the Sur tribe, who are a sub-clan of the Khiljis. His father had a medicine business which Suri took over in 1997 after death of his father. His mother is of Urdu-speaking background.
Suri received his early education from the Quetta Islamia School and enrolled in Federal Government College in 1988. He received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1990 and a master's degree in international relations in 1992, both from the University of Balochistan.

Political career

Suri have been associated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf since 1996 but became active member in 2007.
He ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-259 in 2013 Pakistani general election but was unsuccessful. He received 16,006 votes and lost the seat to Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
He was elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from NA-265 in 2018 Pakistani general election. He received 25,973 votes and defeated Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani.
Following Suri's successful election, PTI nominated him for the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan on 13 August 2018. On 15 August 2018, he was elected as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. He received 183 votes out of a total of 327, defeating his opponent, Asad Mehmood who secured 144 votes.
On 27 September 2019, an election tribunal of Balochistan High Court nullified Suri's election and ordered fresh elections in the constituency, that resulted in his denotification. On 7 October 2019, however the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended the election tribunal's decision and ordered the ECP not to issue the election schedule for NA-265.