page_title: Sahibzada Muhammad Ishaq Zaffar
section_title: Political life
hierarchical_section_title: Sahibzada Muhammad Ishaq Zaffar / Political life
caption_attribution_description: English: saved government many times
context_page_description: Sahibzada Muhammad Ishaq Zaffar also known as Ishaq Zaffar was a Pakistani politician in Azad Kashmir administrative territory. He filled various positions in the Azad Kashmir government from the 1970s until dying in office in 2006, beginning as a member of the Pakistan People's Party, serving as member of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Speaker of the Assembly, Acting President of Azad Kashmir, and senior minister, and was opposition leader in the constituent assembly at the time of his death. He contested elections for constituent assembly of Azad Kashmir for five times and always won assembly seat.
context_section_description: Before joining politics he was a primary school teacher. Zaffar left the government teaching job and  joined Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the early 1970s. He was among the founding members of party Pakistan Peoples Party in Azad Kashmir.  
  Zaffar was a law graduate, and remained bar president of Muzaffarabad Bar. Zaffar was a supporter of Bhuttos and he almost spent 30 months in jail for opposition to Zia ul Haq and Pervez Musharraf regimes. During the martial law in Pakistan he remained vocal for restoration of democracy in Pakistan under the banner of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
  He was considered among the members of the party which were close to Benazir Bhutto. He remained as president of Pakistan peoples party AJK and was member of central executive committee He accompanied Benazir Bhutto to rallies and election campaigns. He was very good orator even Benazir Bhutto appreciated his quality of speaking. He represented Azad Kashmir Government in the United Nations regarding the Kashmir conflict.
  During many up and downs Ishaq Zaffar remained steadfast to Pakistan Peoples Party.From 1996 to 2001, he was senior minister in Barrister Sultan Mahmood's led PP government.
  He always supported the continuation of parliamentary mechanism and improvement through it .
  In July 2004 he was made president of Bhutto's PPP Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Despite zaffar's loyalty to the Party and supporting Barrister Sultan Mehmood in 1995 as president of party, Sultan did not accept Zaffar as president of party and formed his party Pakistan Peoples Muslim League Finally in 2006 Azad Kashmir elections, in an important step Mushraff granted his imprimatur and manipulated results For Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan's son, Sardar Attique to become Azad Kashmir's Prime minister and Zaffar was defeated as the prime minister candidate. Zaffar was appointed as Opposition leader of AJ&K constituent Assembly in 2006 July.
caption: He was equally accredited by friends and foes for efficiently handling most complex situations for the government at the floor of the assembly and outside.
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