Chaudhry Abid Raza

Chaudhry Abid Raza Gujjar (Urdu: چوہدری عابد رضا‎; born 2 September 1972 ) is a Pakistani politician. He became a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in August 2018. He was also a member of the National Assembly from June 2013 to May 2018.

Despite criticism when it comes to his links with family feuds or Islamist militancy, he has been noted for his clean brand of politics, known to have "overwhelmingly thwarted the network of thugs, land grabbers, groups running usury businesses, and never supported the guilty parties in cases pertaining to murder and other land-related quarrels within his constituency."[1]

Early life

He was born on 2 September 1972 in Kotla Arab Ali Khan, Tehsil Kharian District Gujrat.[2] His father was elected chairman UC Kotla in the 60s, his family being well known in local politics.

Career

Militant politics

He has been handed down a death sentence through an anti-terror act in 1998, for murdering six peoples in an attempt to assassinate Ghulam Sarwar Bhooch, the nizam of Gujrat and a family rival, as well as having links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba, while in 2003 he was accused of helping Amjad Farooqi, an Islamist who planned to kill Musharraf. He refuted all these allegations and connections with militant outfits, saying that he's a "diehard Sunni Deobandi", but not an extremist, while he didn't get the death sentence because he spent five years in jail and was released after reconciling with the opposing party, as per Islamic law.[3]

Mainstream politics

Raza began his political career with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) where he served in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab until 2008. His family joined PML-Q in 2003. He joined Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) in 2008.[4] Hamza Shahbaz Sharif is supposed to be the one who pushed his inclusion in the PML-N despite the controversies, "to appease the Kotlas."[5]

He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-107 (Gujrat-IV) in 2013.[6][7][8][9][10] He received 94,196 votes and defeated Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas, a candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).[11]

He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-71 (Gujrat-IV) in 2018 Pakistani general election.[12] He received 88,588 votes and defeated Muhammad Ilyas Chaudhry, a candidate of PTI.[13]

Personal life

Raza is married and has three sons and a daughter. His brother Chaudhry Shabbir Ahmed was elected Member of the Punjab Assembly in the 2013 election, his other brother Chaudhry Muhammad Ali Tanveer was elected as Chairman District Council Gujrat in 2017. He defeated Chaudhry Shujaat Hussein's sister. He belongs to a religious family.

References
  1. Waqas Shabbir (4 July 2019), "A new and old Pakistan paradox", The Nation. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  2. "Detail Information". 21 April 2014. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  3. "LeJ terror suspect contesting on PML-N ticket" (6 May 2013), The News International. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  4. Azeem, Muhammad (18 March 2013). "Man having links with banned outfit may get PML-N ticket".
  5. Muhammad Azeem (18 March 2013), "Man having links with banned outfit may get PML-N ticket", Dawn News. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  6. "NA-107 Results". Geo TV. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  7. "Tough contest between N, PPP in NA-107". The Nation. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  8. "Democratic terror". The Nation. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  9. "Crushing defeats deal a severe blow to PPP". The Nation. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  10. "SC restores death sentence of PML-N MNA". The Nation. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  11. "2013 election result" (PDF). ECP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  12. "PML-N's Chudhary Abid raza wins NA-71 election". Associated Press Of Pakistan. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  13. "NA-71 Result - Election Results 2018 - Gujrat 4 - NA-71 Candidates - NA-71 Constituency Details - thenews.com.pk". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
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