Syed Mumtaz Alam Gillani (also spelled Gilani and Geelani) is a Pakistani lawyer who was appointed the federal minister of Human Rights on November 4, 2008, a new portfolio which was carved out of the ministry of law and justice. Gillani was voted into the National Assembly of Pakistan in March 2008. He is a founding member and senior leader of the Pakistan People''s Party.
He entered politics when he first got elected to the local parliamentary assembly in the 1960s and he became a member of PPP at its founding in 1967. He has also campaigned for Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, when she ran against Ayub Khan in the presidential elections of 1965. Gillani represents the 189th constituency, one of the four constituencies of the southern Punjab metropolis Bahawalnagar. Having run as an independent candidate, he joined the PPPP (Pakistan People''s Party Parliamentarians) following the 2008 General Election.The first time Gillani met as an MNA (member of the National Assembly) was in the 1988–1990 assembly when he represented the 144th constituency.In the 2002 General Election Gillani, then representing the Pakistan Muslim League (QA), stood for election in the 189th district and lost to then PPPP candidate Mian Mumtaz Ahmed Matiana.
He has been president of the District Bar Association in Bahawalnagar. During his law practice he also became a judge of an appellate tribunal.In March 2006 Gillani addressed a rally in Bahawalnagar organized by the District Bar Association protesting the Muhammad cartoons that was first printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Alam Gillani is a member of the Standing Committees on Environment and Information and Broadcasting. In June 2008 Gillani pleaded in the National Assembly for the Prime Minister to announce a special package so that clean drinking water could be provided to Bahawalnagar District citing a survey which indicated high rate of Hepatitis in District Bahawalnagar as compared to other districts of the country because of non-availability of clean drinking water in the area. Gillani also proposed that small farmers should be given interest-free loans to make the country self-sufficient in agriculture.In July Gillani announced that the Prime Minister on his request had promised to provide Rs. 120 million (about USD 1.5 million) to complete ongoing developmental projects in the District Bahawalnagar.
