# Mian Muhammad Azhar

Mian Muhammad Azhar (Urdu: میاں محمد اظہر) is a Pakistani politician and a businessman representing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He is currently a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, serving since February 2024.He is from an Arain family of Lahore, He is a former governor of Punjab (1990-1993) and the founder of PML-Q, of which he was also president. He is one of the largest steel manufacturers of Pakistan and is the CEO of Afco Steel Industries. He was also the mayor of Lahore between 1987 and 1991.
He is the father of former Federal Minister Hammad Azhar.

## Education

Azhar studied at the Hailey College of Commerce in Lahore.

## Political career

Being a close aide of Nawaz Sharif in the past, he was also awarded the National Assembly ticket from NA-95 Lahore-IV, the seat vacated by Nawaz Sharif after the 1988 general elections. Azhar won his seat as a candidate of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad. In 1990, after the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto's first government, he replaced Gen (Rtd.) Tikka Khan as the Governor of Punjab and held the office till 25 April 1993. He, however, left the office, which Muslim League insiders said, was due to differences with Sharif.
In the 1997 general elections, he was elected as MNA on PML-N ticket from NA-92 (Lahore-I). His relations with Sharif got bitter gradually and finally with the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif's government, he became the head of a new faction of Muslim League called PML-Q. He met President Pervez Musharraf on 25 June 2001, thus becoming the first Pakistani politician to do so.
In the 2002 general elections, while he was a strong candidate for the slot of prime minister. However, in a dramatic way, he lost the National Assembly elections from both seats of Lahore and Sheikhupura. In NA-118 (Lahore-I), he was defeated by independent candidate, Hafiz Salman Butt, who was supported by PML-N and Jamaat-e-Islami, whereas in NA-132 (Sheikhupura-II), he was beaten by PML-N's Mian Jalil Ahmad Sharaqpuri.
Meanwhile, his party managed to form the national government as well as ruling in two provinces amid charges of massive rigging. Without a parliamentary seat, he was replaced by Shujaat Hussain as head of PLM-Q. He also failed to win a seat in the 2008 elections.
He joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in October 2011.
He was re-elected to the National Assembly from NA-129 Lahore-XIII as an independent candidate supported by PTI in the 2024 Pakistani general election. He received 103,739 votes and defeated Muhammad Numan, a candidate of PML(N).

## Pakistan Football Federation

Pakistani football became a hot bed for politics in the early 1990s. In 1990, Pakistan Football Federation held its general elections in which Azhar won the presidency by a margin of one vote, beating the Pakistan Peoples Party leader Faisal Saleh Hayat. Azhar was instrumental in ousting PFF General Secretary Hafiz Salman Butt (a Member of National Assembly of Jamaat-e-Islami) due to political rifts and alleged abuse of power.
Azhar governed the federation till the 2003 elections, when he was beaten by Hayat, who was supported by Butt. By that time, Azhar had fallen out of favour from the pro-Musharraf PML-Q while Hayat’s own pro-Musharraf PPP faction had been growing in power in the run-up to the 2002 General Elections after which he became the Interior Minister of Pakistan.