Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan (; born 31 July 1954) is a Pakistani politician who served as the Interior Minister from 2013 to 2017. He had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till January 2023. He however was unsuccessful in winning a National Assembly seat. A former leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Khan had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan between 1985 and May 2018. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly from 2008 to 2013.
Born in Chakri, Khan was educated at Army Burn Hall College. Khan has served in various federal cabinet positions since 1988. He briefly served as the Science and Technology Minister in 1988. During Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's first and second tenures, he held the cabinet portfolio of Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister. During the Gillani ministry, he briefly served as the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Minister with the additional portfolio of Communications Minister. In June 2013, during the third Sharif ministry, he was appointed as the Interior Minister, which he held until the dissolution of the federal cabinet in July 2017 following the dismissal of Sharif by the Supreme Court.
He took oath as Member of Provincial Assembly of Punjab on 26 May 2021.
Early life and education
Khan was born on 31 July 1954 to Brigadier (retired) Fateh Khan in Chakri village, Rawalpindi District. He attended Aitchison College and Army Burn Hall College. He was born in a family of Jodhra and Alpial tribes of Rajput.
He is the younger brother of General Iftikhar Ali Khan.
Career
Khan began his political career in the 1980s after becoming chairman of Rawalpindi district council. He became close to Nawaz Sharif during the rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
Political life
1985–1993
He was first elected to the National Assembly in the 1985 general election from constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III). He was re-elected to the National Assembly from the same constituency in the 1988 general election on the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ticket. He was then appointed as the Federal Minister for Science and Technology. After getting re-elected for the third time to the National Assembly in the 1990 general election on the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ticket from constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III), Khan was made the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources and Provincial Coordinator, where he served from 1990 to 1993 during the first government of Sharif. He was re-elected to the national assembly for the fourth time in the 1993 general election from constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III).
1993–2002
He was re-elected to the National Assembly for the fifth time in the 1997 general election from constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III) and was for the second time appointed as the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, where he served until he was dismissed in October 1999 after the coup d'état when then Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, overthrew the elected government of Sharif. Khan was placed under house arrest for many weeks. It was during his tenure as Member of the National Assembly, he became the most powerful man in PML-N after Nawaz Sharif. Khan was also among Sharif's loyalists who kept the PML-N alive during the Musharraf rule. Musharraf was reportedly appointed as the Chief of Army Staff on the recommendation of Khan.
Khan was re-elected to the National Assembly for the sixth time in the 2002 general election from constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III). However, he lost the election in constituency NA-53 (Rawalpindi-IV).
2002–2011
He was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly in the 2008 general election for the seventh time, both from constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III) and from constituency NA-53 (Rawalpindi-IV). Later, Khan vacated the NA-52 seat and retained NA-53.
Khan was appointed as the Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock and Federal Minister for Communications in March 2008 in the government of Yousaf Raza Gillani, but his tenure was short-lived due to PML-N's decision to leave the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government.
In September 2008, he was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly after the resignation of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. In October 2011, he became the first-ever chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly (which was created to audit the accounts of the government) to present annual reports, but he resigned in November 2011 claiming that accountability was not possible under the Pakistan Peoples Party regime led by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.