Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi (born 1 November 1945), is a Pakistani politician. He was the Chief Minister of Pakistan's most populous
province, Punjab, from 2002 to 2007.
History of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and His Family
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| Chauhdry Parvez Elahi |
Elahi was born in 1945 and educated at Lahore’s Forman
Christian College and Watford College of Technology in London.
Chaudhry Manzur Elahi, father of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi is
the elder brother of late Chaudhry Zahur Elahi raised in Gujrat, Chaudry Manzur
Elahi left his hometown in 1939 to pursue further studies. He received his
degree in textile engineering from Amritsar in 1940.
Upon his return from Amritsar, Chaudry Manzur Elahi
teamed up with his brother to develop their textile business. In 1947-48, he established
two textile units under the names of Gujrat Silk Mills and Pakistan Textile
Mills. In 1950, the business was expanded to Lahore where they established
Parvez Textile Mills, specializing in weaving, finishing and dyeing. In
1951-52, Chaudhry Manzur Elahi went to Japan to import textile machinery for
his Gujrat and Lahore units. Armed with his textile education and superior
business ethics, Chaudry Manzur Elahi’s textile units continued to flourish
under his leadership. The family continued to dedicate their energies to their
business and set up Modern Flour Mills in Lahore and Rawalpindi.
In 1956, Chaudry Zahur Elahi decided to enter politics,
however, Chaudhry Manzur Elahi remained committed to the business. Chaudhry
Zahur Elahi was elected Chairman of the Gujrat District Board in 1958, and
thereafter devoted his efforts solely for the welfare and uplift of the people
of his area. The same year, Chaudhry Zahur Elahi was also elected Director of
the National Bank of Pakistan. He was elected continuously as Director for the
next twelve years.
In 1958, General Ayub Khan came to power through martial
law. He enforced the Elected Bodies Disqualification Order (EBDO) for the
disqualification of politicians for the next five years. The politicians were
given two options: either to retire voluntarily or to face the consequences of
the Government’s action. Chaudhry Zahur Elahi was the only politician, in the
entire West Pakistan province, who challenged the EBDO. Despite being cleared
by the EBDO Tribunal for all charges, Chaudry Zahur Elahi was sentenced to six
months imprisonment. He was elected Member of National Assembly in 1962 and
consequently became Secretary General of the Pakistan Muslim League’s
Parliamentary Party of United Pakistan. Around this time the family purchased
Pakistan Times.
Chaudhry Zahur Elahi continued to gain popularity in the
political scene and was elected to the National Assembly in 1970. He was among
the few members of the Pakistan Muslim League to get elected. East Pakistan was
seceded in 1971 following emergence of Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto in
politics. On his coming to power, Z.A. Bhutto nationalized a number of
industries including flour mills. Chaudhry Zahur Elahi was among the nine
opposition parliamentary leaders who were thrown out of the Parliament House by
the Bhutto regime. During the Bhutto regime, Chaudhry Zahur Elahi was accused
of a number of incidents such as the alleged buffalo theft case and the Iraqi
arms for Balochistan case. He was involved in several alleged cases, one of
which was delivering an anti-government speech in Pearl Continental, Karachi. A
special tribunal sentenced him to imprisonment for five years. He remained
imprisoned in different jails but served mostly in the Karachi jail.
Chaudhry Zahur Elahi was released from jail and he
launched his election campaign from Gujrat and Constituency No.3 of Lahore
against Bhutto. However, these elections were postponed. The Zia regime decided
to return these industries to their original owners. The Chaudhry family took
charge of their flourmills.
At this juncture, the Chaudhry family decided that
Chaudhry Shujat Hussain and Chaudhry Parvez Elahi (sons of the two brothers)
should take charge of the family business as well as to enter politics. In
1982, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was elected Chairman of District Council Gujrat and
remained Chairman for several years. In the 1985 non-party based elections,
Chaudhry Shujat Hussain and Chaudhry Parvez Elahi were elected to the National
Assembly and Punjab Assembly respectively.
As well as their political careers, both cousin brothers
remained heavily involved in their business as well. In 1987, the family
diversified into the sugar industry. They set up two sugar mills, at Mian
Channu (Khanewal) and at Phalia (Mandi Bahauddin). The family also expanded
their textile business by entering spinning and cotton yarn in 1990-91 and
consequently set up two separate units in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin.
In 1988 Benazir Bhutto came to power. The Chaudries
defaulted on loans, alleging harassment from the Bhutto regime, The family
sought relief from the courts and continued their business on borrowing from
the private sector. In 1997 when he interim Government announced that no one would
be allowed to contest in the elections without clearing their loans, the family
faced serious financial problems. They managed to sell their sugar and cotton
yarn in advance for coming two years at lower rates to repay their loans.
From 1993-97, several alleged cases were registered
against Chaudhry Shujat Hussain and Chaudhry Parvez Elahi. They were detained
in Adiyla Jail Rawalpindi for several months. In the 1997 election, the two
cousins were elected to the National Assembly and Punjab Assembly with majority
votes and held important ministries. Chaudry Shujaat Hussain was the Interior
Minister while Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was elected Speaker of the Punjab Assembly
with overwhelming majority.
He studied at Forman Christian College University
completed graduation in 1967, and obtained a diploma in Industrial Management
from the University of Oxford.
He became chairman of the Gujrat district council in 1983
and has been serving as an MPA (Member of Provincial Assembly) of the
Provincial Assembly of the Punjab since 1985.
He served as Minister for Local Government and Rural
Development during 1985-88, 1988–90 and 1990-93. He was Deputy Leader of the
Opposition in the Punjab Assembly during 1993-96, and also the Leader of the Opposition
later. He was the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly during 1997-99.
In the elections of 2002, he was elected for a sixth
consecutive term from two constituencies - PP-110 (Gujrat) and PP-292 (Rahim
Yar Khan). On November 29, 2002, he was inducted as the Chief Minister of
Punjab, serving until November 22, 2007, when the five-year mandate ended for
the provincial assembly of Punjab. He is also the President of his political
party, Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in Punjab. On 24 July 2006 he was elected,
second time unopposed, the President of the PML for next three years.
He has been praised for making great contributions to
agriculture and irrigation, education, health, IT, public sector development,
infrastructure, supply of gas and electricity and law and order while serving
as Chief Minister of Punjab. He has also faced criticism for the appointment of
cronies. For the first time in Punjab, all citizens were offered all levels of
health care and medical facilities completely free of cost.
Thousand of water courses were brick lined. For the first
time in Lahore, traffic was controlled by traffic wardens. Even his most fierce
rivals have acknowledged his work.
2008 election
In the February 2008 parliamentary election, Elahi ran
for the National Assembly as a PML-Q candidate, and it was believed that the
party wanted him to become Prime Minister after the election, although it did
not officially declare him as its candidate for the position. He ran for the seats
NA-58 in Attock, NA-61 in Chakwal, and NA-187 in Bahawalpur, along with two
provincial assembly seats. After the election, he was reported to have won the
National Assembly seat in Attock but lost the other two.
In the February 2008 parliamentary election, Elahi ran for the National Assembly seats
as a PML-Q candidate, and it was believed that the party wanted him to become
Prime Minister after the election, although not officially declared as the
candidate for premiership. He ran for the seats NA-58 in Attock, NA-61 in Chakwal, and NA-187 in Bahawalpur, however. Elahi was the PML-Q's
candidate for Prime Minister following the election; in the parliamentary vote,
held on 24 March 2008, he was defeated by Yousaf
Raza Gillani of
the PPP, receiving 42 votes against 264 for Gillani.
His son Moonis Elahi also participated in the elections.
After a very publicized campaign which cost the PML Q a lot in terms of
finance, Moonis Elahi lost the provincial assembly seat from Lahore he was
running for, however he won the provincial assembly seat from Gujrat and was
elected to the Punjab assembly for the first time.
Chaudhry Parvez Elahi is still the party president of PML Q in Punjab and
is gearing up his party for the next election.
