Khawaja Asif
Khawaja Muhammad Asif (Urdu: خواجہ محمد آصف; born 9 August 1949) is a Pakistani politician who serves as the Defence Minister of Pakistan from 19 April 2022. Previously having this post from April 2022 to August 2023. He had also been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till August 2023. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2018 and till date. In May, 2019 he took the charge and became the Parliamentary Leader of PML-N in the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif | |
|---|---|
خواجہ محمد آصف | |
Asif in 2015 | |
| Minister of Defence | |
| Assumed office 19 April 2022 | |
| President | Arif Alvi |
| Prime Minister | Shehbaz Sharif |
| Preceded by | Pervez Khattak |
| Succeeded by | Anwar Ali Haider (caretaker) |
| In office 27 November 2013 – 28 July 2017 | |
| President | Mamnoon Hussain |
| Prime Minister | Nawaz Sharif |
| Preceded by | Naveed Qamar |
| Succeeded by | Khurram Dastgir Khan |
| 33rd Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 4 August 2017 – 26 April 2018 | |
| President | Mamnoon Hussain |
| Prime Minister | Shahid Khaqan Abbasi |
| Preceded by | Sartaj Aziz (as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs) |
| Succeeded by | Khurram Dastgir Khan |
| Minister for Water and Power | |
| In office 7 June 2013 – 28 July 2017 | |
| President | Mamnoon Hussain |
| Prime Minister | Nawaz Sharif |
| Deputy | Abid Sher Ali |
| Preceded by | Ahmad Mukhtar |
| Succeeded by | Syed Javed Ali Shah (as minister for Water Resources) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (as minister for Energy) |
| Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources | |
| In office 31 March 2008 – 13 May 2008 | |
| President | Pervez Musharraf |
| Prime Minister | Yusuf Raza Gillani |
| Succeeded by | Asim Hussain |
| Minister for Sports | |
| In office 31 March 2008 – 13 May 2008 | |
| President | Pervez Musharraf |
| Prime Minister | Yusuf Raza Gillani |
| Member of National Assembly of Pakistan | |
| Assumed office 27 April 1993 | |
| Constituency | NA-71 Sialkot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 August 1949 Sialkot, West Punjab, Pakistan |
| Political party | PTI (1993-present) |
| Spouse | Musarrat Asif Khawaja |
| Relations | Farooq Naek (cousin) |
| Parent |
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| Alma mater | University of the Punjab |
He served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to April 2018 and simultaneously served as the Minister for Defence and Minister for Water and Power in the third Sharif ministry from 2013 to 2017.
Asif began his political career after getting elected to the Senate of Pakistan during the Sharif's first ministry in 1991. Since 1997, he had served as a member of the federal cabinet, in various positions. From 1997 to 1999, he was as the chairman of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan during the second government of Nawaz Sharif. He briefly held the cabinet portfolios of the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources in the Gillani ministry in 2008, with an additional charge as Minister for Sports.
He is a Member of National Assembly of Pakistan and was elected in 2024 from Sialkot.