Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal Sahi

Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal Sahi چودهری محمد افضل ساهى
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Speaker of Punjab Assembly
In office 27 November 2002 – 11 April 2008
Preceded by	Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi
Succeeded by	Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan
Personal details
Born	1 November 1949(1949-11-01) Faisalbad
Political party	Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
Alma mater	University of Punjab
Religion	Islam

Chaudhary Muhammad Afzal Sahi born on November 1, 1949, at Faisalabad is a Pakistani politician. He is son of Chaudhry Nawab Khan Sahi, a famous landlord of Sahianwala, and belongs to a noble Jat family. He got his early education from Government High School for Boys Salarwala and then from Government college Faisalabad.He carried on with his education in Lahore and graduated from University of the Punjab (Lahore) in 1971.

Political career

Sahi is an agriculturist by profession, who stepped into politics in 1979.

District Government Faisalabad

He served as Member District Council Faisalabad for three consecutive terms from 1979 to 1991.He was also elected as Naib District Nazim,District Council, Faisalabad on 14-08-2001 and remained on this post until 24-08-2002, when he resigned to contest in the general elections of Punjab assembly.

Provincial Assembly of Punjab

Seeing his popularity rise, in 1985 he decided to participate in the non-party basis Punjab Assembly elections,the first elections ever to be held in his region.Muhammad Afzal Sahi was defeated by very few votes but the majority of the population was of the view that the elections were rigged.Mr. Sahi filed an election petition against these results which went in his favor and he was asked to take oath as member of the provincial assembly but the then government never allowed him to take oath until the assembly dissolved in 1988. He remained undefeated from his constituency from 1985 till 2008. He served as a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in 1988-90, 1990–93, 1993-96 and 1997-99.He functioned as Parliamentary Secretary for Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife during 1990-93 and as Minister for Communications & Works in Punjab during 1997-99. He was elected for the fifth consecutive term as a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in the 2002 General Elections , and was elected as the Speaker of Provincial Assembly of the Punjab.He remained on this post from November 27, 2002 to April 11, 2008.During this period he also functioned as governor of Punjab several times. He is highly regarded in the political arena as a seasoned politician and plays an important part in the politics of Punjab.He is seen as a close ally of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and as a senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League (Q).

Knighthood of Salman Rushdie

On 21 June 2007, Afzal Sahi, the speaker of the Punjab provincial assembly reflecting on the knighthood of Salman Rushdie said "blasphemers should be killed, I will murder a blasphemer if he comes across me.He said that he is first a Muslim and then a government official.He was the first high ranking government official to condemn this.This statement was welcomed by even the opposition members in the assembly, who appreciated Sahi's courage.

Family

Afzal Sahi's elder brother, Lt. Col. (Retd.) Ghulam Rasul Sahi, is vice president of Pakistan Muslim League (Q).His brother also remained the member of the National Assembly from 2002-2007.His son Zafar Zulqarnain Sahi is currently member of Provincial Assembly of the Punjab,he was elected from PP-52 in February 2008 elections.Sahi's younger brother, Maj.General Akram Sahi is serving Pakistan Army as a Major General.

External links

• Official Web Site of Provincial Assembly of the Punjab
• Geo tv
• [1]
• [2]

Political offices
Preceded by Khalid Maqbool	Governor of Punjab Acting 2002–2008	Succeeded by Khalid Maqbool
Preceded by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi	Speaker of Punjab Assembly 2002 – 2008	Succeeded by Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan
Preceded by Zulfiqar Ali Khosa	Minister for Communication and Works 1997 – 1999	Succeeded by Choudhry Zaheeruddin
Persondata
Name	Sahi, Chaudhry
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 November 1949
Place of birth	Faisalbad
Date of death
Place of death