Ahsan Iqbal

Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary (born September 28, 1958) is a Pakistani politician Member of National Assembly and the former Federal Minister for Education (Pakistan). He is the Deputy Secretary General of the center-right party PML-N, and also a member of the Central Executive Committee of the party. He was elected as an MNA from his constituency NA-117 (Narowal-III) in the February 2008 elections. He served as a Federal Minister for Education in the coalition government of PPP, PML-N, ANP and JUI-F formed after 2008 elections, but later resigned when his party pulled out of the coalition on 12 May 2008.

Life and education

Ahsan Iqbal was born to Iqbal Ahmed Chaudhary and Apa Nisar Fatima. His mother, Apa Nisar Fatima, was a former Member of the National Assembly and daughter of Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Khan, a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Jalandhar (now India) before the partition era. Ahsan Iqbal was born in Lahore. His schools were the Cantt Public School Karachi, PAF Public School, Sargodha and the Government College, Lahore. He then studied mechanical engineering at the UET Lahore (1976–1981), where he was elected President of the Students Union (1980–81) before moving to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania for an MBA degree (1984–1986),. He has also attended executive programs at universities including the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (1989), the University of Oxford (1992) and Harvard University (2004).

Political career

His political career started in 1980 when he was elected President of Students Union on the platform of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba in University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore. In 1988 he joined PML (a part of IJI then) later becoming PMLN, and rose to become its Information Secretary in 2006 during the regime of General Pervaiz Musharraf. He was elected for the first time as an MNA from NA-90 Narowal (now NA-117) in the general elections of 1993, and later re-elected from the same constituency in February 1997. He won his seat again in 2008 securing 59% of the votes cast[4] and lost a controversial election in 2002 to Riffat Javed Kahloon . He was elected Deputy Secretary General of PML-N in the General Council meeting of PML-N on 27 July 2011.

Economic reforms

Ahsan Iqbal had initiated and authored Vision 2010 for Pakistan in 1998, and was responsible for country’s long term economic planning and management as Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission/ Minister of State. On his initiative, Pakistan's first National IT Policy was formulated. His leadership was instrumental in starting several knowledge, good governance, and reform programs in the country through extensive stake-holder's dialogue and partnership. He was also a Professor of Management at Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Islamabad (2000–07). He heads a development think tank, Better Pakistan Foundation, as Chairman.

Appointments to executive posts

His appointments include Chief Coordinator / Minister of State, Pakistan 2010 Program (1997–99), Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission (Pakistan) (1998–99); Chairman, Good Governance Group, Government of Pakistan (1997–99); Chairman, Pakistan Engineering Board, and Chairman, National Steering Committees on Information Technology and IQM and Productivity (1998–99). He earlier served as Policy and Public Affairs Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan (1993). He served as Senior Advisor, Al-Madinah Al-Monawarah Digital Economy Project from September 2004 to April 2006. He has also held senior-level corporate positions in public sector corporations of Pakistan.