Explained: Who is Shah Mahmood Qureshi, nominated for Pakistan’s PM by Imran Khan?

Shah Mahmood Qureshi is going up against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's President Shehbaz Sharif who has been appointed by the Opposition for the Prime Minister's post.

Former Pakistan Foreign Minister and Vice President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Shah Mahmood Qureshi. (File Photo/AP)

Amidst the political turmoil in Pakistan, the country’s former Foreign Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s Vice-President Shah Mahmood Qureshi filed his nomination for the position of Prime Minister, after Imran Khan was ousted from the post through a no-confidence vote for the first time in the country. Qureshi’s nomination was proposed by Amir Dogar and seconded by Maleeka Bokhari.

For the post of the new Prime Minister, who would be elected on Monday, opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz nominated its President Shehbaz Sharif. Both Qureshi and Sharif filed their nomination papers to the National Assembly of Pakistan, which will be electing a new leader on Monday at 2 pm.

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The National Assembly tweeted on Sunday, “Nomination papers of Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Shah Mehmood Qureshi for the election of Leader of the House/Prime Minister accepted. Nomination papers were scrutinised. After scrutiny, nomination papers of both the candidates were accepted.”

Who is Shah Mahmood Qureshi?

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Qureshi, who has now served as Foreign Minister of the country for two terms from 2008 to 2011 and 2018 to 2022, is known to come from an influential and wealthy family from Multan.

Born on June 22, 1956, he graduated from Aitchison College, Lahore and further went on to pursue Law from Cambridge University and then a Masters’ Degree in History from Corpus Christi College.

Qureshi began his political career in 1985 when he was elected as a member of Punjab Assembly from his hometown Multan. In 1986, Qureshi joined Pakistan Muslim League and associated himself with former prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. Qureshi was again elected a member of the Punjab Assembly in 1988, when he served as the Minister of Planning & Development in Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet and 1990 when he also served as the Finance Minister of Punjab.

Qureshi left PML for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1993. In Benazir Bhutto’s cabinet, Qureshi served as the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. In 1996, he was appointed to be the spokesperson of PPP.

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In 2006, Bhutto appointed Qureshi to be President of PPP Punjab. Although Qureshi was seriously considered to be a Prime Ministerial candidate in 2008 elections, he was handed over the post of Foreign Minister.

Soon after becoming the Foreign Minister, Qureshi had to deal with significant foreign relation issues like Mumbai Terror Attacks of 2008 and the Raymond Davis fiasco, which became a reason for Qureshi to be dropped off from the cabinet.

Qureshi eventually joined PTI in 2011 and has ever since remained a significant part of the party. Although, his rivalry with Javed Hashmi, who is also from Multan, has been a constant since he joined the party.

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