Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (Born July 31, 1954 in Chakri Vakilan) is a Pakistani politician and parliamentarian who serves as the Interior Minister of Pakistan. Prior to that he has served as 8th Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly between 17 September 2008 till 7 June 2013. A conservative politician, he is the senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Sharif, previously he served in the Sharif administration as the minister of science and technology from 9 June 1988 until 1 December 1988 and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources in two non-consecutive terms from 1990–93 and 1997–99 in the government of former Prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif.
Background
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Khan is an alumnus of Aitchison College and Army Burn Hall College
Political career
He took an oath for the National Assembly seat on 24 March 2008. From 31 March 2008 to 12 May 2008, Khan was a senior minister and held the portfolios of Ministry of Communication and Ministry of Food and Livestock (MINFAL). However, all the PML-N ministers resigned en route on 12 May 2008 protesting the delay in restoration of judges by the PPP-led government.
Khan has previously served as Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, and Provincial Coordinator during 1990 – 1993 government of PML(N). From 1997 – 1999 government of PML(N), he was again Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister. Nisar has been elected an MNA eight times (in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008) –from NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III) in 2002 and 2013 and from NA-53 (Rawalpindi – IV) in 2008. He was elected the Leader of the Opposition after Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi resigned from that post. He secured NA-52 seat in Rawalpindi leaving behind his competitors Lt. Col (R) Ajmal Sabir Raja of PTI and PML-Q’s Muhammad Basharat Raja. He is one of the three politicians who have never lost their home town seats since 1985, the second being fellow conservative politician of the PML, Anwar Ali Cheema who lost from Sargodha Na-67 in 2013 and third one is Mian Intisar Hussain Bhatti of Pindi Bhattian Distt. Hafizabad. Khan has been consecutively winning from Rawalpindi for more than 25 years and is considered to be a stalwart of that region.
He participated in 2002 elections as a non-partisan and joined the opposition parties in the Parliament. After successfully contesting in the 2008 parliamentary elections, Khan was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and assumed the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on October 19, 2011 but resigned on November 28, 2011. In general election 2013 Nisar won from Constituency NA-52 as well as from PP-6 (as an independent candidate). However, he lost from Constituency NA-53 and PP-7 constituencies against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates. Chaudhry Nisar was later appointed as the Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control in the cabinet of Nawaz Sharif.
Controversy
Khan is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However, it was revealed by WikiLeaks in diplomatic cables that in a 2008 conversation with then US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson, Khan told Patterson that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain "publicly credible"
