Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (born 17 October 1954), is the 19th and the current Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. A native of Lahore, Sadiq is a senior leader of the conservative PML(N) and notably defeated Imran Khan for constituency NA-122. His electoral performance against Khan proved to a crucial factor in his nomination for the post of the Speaker of the National Assembly during the general election held in 2013.
Early and personal life
Sadiq was born on 17 October 1954 in Lahore. He graduated from Aitchison College and completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Hailey College of Commerce in 1975. Since 1994, he has chaired the Sardar Trust Eye Hospital. Sadiq is married and has two sons and a daughter. The eldest son is an ophthalmologist, while the younger one is pursuing his career in banking.
Political career
Sadiq started his political career from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the 1996. He left PTI in 1998 owing to differences with Khan and joined the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N). He was Khan's junior at Aitchison College during the early 1960s. Sadiq admits that both he and Khan have been on good terms as old friends, even after their split in politics. His Aitchison fellows – Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pervaiz Khattak, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Zulfiqar Ali Magsi – are also prominent figures in the politics of Pakistan.
His political views and thinking reflected the nationalist conservatism. Sadiq successfully contested the 2002 general election on PML-N ticket against Khan from NA-122 Lahore-V. In the 2008 election, he defeated the Pakistan Peoples Party's candidate with a huge margin. He was elected member of National Assembly (MNA) for the third consecutive term in 2013 defeating PTI's chairman for the second time. Sadiq was nominated for the post of Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan by PML-N on 2 June 2013; he won the election for the post with a majority of 258 votes out 313 and became the nineteenth Speaker of the National Assembly. Sadiq took oath from his predecessor Dr. Fahmida Mirza.
