Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry

Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry
سلطان محمود چوہدری
President of Azad Kashmir
Assumed office
25 August 2021
Prime MinisterAbdul Qayyum Niazi
Sardar Tanveer Ilyas
Chaudhry Anwarul Haq
Preceded byMasood Khan
Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir
In office
30 July 1996 – 24 July 2001
Preceded byAbdul Qayyum Khan
Succeeded bySardar Sikandar Hayat
President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Azad Kashmir
In office
6 February 2015 – 9 September 2021
ChairmanImran Khan
Succeeded bySardar Tanveer Ilyas
Member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
In office
3 August 2021 – 25 August 2021
Preceded byHimself
Succeeded byYasir Sultan Chaudhry
ConstituencyLA-3 Mirpur-III
In office
24 November 2019 – 30 July 2021
Preceded byChaudhry Muhammad Saeed
Succeeded byHimself
ConstituencyLA-3 Mirpur-III
In office
1996 – 25 July 2016
Preceded byArshad Mahmood Ghazi
Succeeded byChaudhry Muhammad Saeed
ConstituencyLA-3 Mirpur-III
In office
1985–1991
Preceded byChauhdry Noor Hussain
Succeeded byArshad Mahmood Ghazi
ConstituencyLA-3 Mirpur-III
Personal details
Political partyPTI (2015-present)
Other political
affiliations
PPP (2005-2015)
ChildrenYasir Sultan Chaudhry (son)
Alma materLincoln's Inn Government Gordon College

Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry (Urdu: سلطان محمود چوہدری) is an Azad Kashmiri politician who hails from Mirpur. He served as Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir between July 1996 to July 2001 and is currently serving as the President of Azad Kashmir since 25 August 2021.[1][2]

Early life

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Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry is the son of the late Kashmiri leader Chaudhary Noor Hussain Jatt who also founded Azad Muslim Conference along with Sardar Ibrahim Khan but after Sardar Ibrahim Khan left the party, he led it alone. He belongs to a Jatt family and his family has contributions in the movement for a free Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been a member of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.[3][2]

After completing his education, he came back from England to Mirpur in 1987 and joined his father's party Azad Muslim Conference and contested elections and won.

Political career

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In the second elections there, Chaudhry Muhammad Rasheed, Chaudhry Khadim Hussain and Chaudhry Yasin won. Then Sultan Mehmood merged his party with the Liberation league and became its President. Later he left that party and joined Pakistan Peoples Party and became president of Pakistan People's Party for Azad Kashmir. Then he became Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He faced some problems in the PPP which led to him quitting the party. He then founded his own party Peoples Muslim League in 2005 and his party won 5 seats in the Legislative Assembly. Later when Benazir Bhutto addressed the issue, he (Sultan Mehmood)apologised and was allowed to join the party again. He rejoined the Pakistan Peoples Party again but won no seats in the AJK legislative assembly. In February 2015, he joined Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf and became president of its Azad Kashmir chapter.[2]

On 24 November 2019, he became a Member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in the by-elections in Mirpur. He owns a shopping plaza in Islamabad and his family owns brick-making factories. Many of their properties were sealed by Sardar Abdul Qayyum when he was the Prime Minister.

He joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on 6 February 2015[2] and lost the elections for the first time in 25 years on 21 July 2016.[4]

He was recently elected as the President of Azad Kashmir on 17 August 2021. However in April 2023 his greed to become Prime Minister of the state, cost his son and brother in law their ministry’s [3]

References

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  1. ^ "Former Prime Ministers of Azad Kashmir". Government of Azad Kashmir. Archived from the original on 15 July 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Former AJK PM joins PTI". Dawn (newspaper). 6 February 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b "PTI's Barrister Sultan Mahmood elected AJK president". Dawn (newspaper). 17 August 2021.
  4. ^ Khurram Shahzad (21 July 2016). "PML-N candidate defeats PTI AJK president Barrister Sultan Mahmood". Daily Pakistan (newspaper). Retrieved 17 August 2021.
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