Khawaja Muhammad Asif

He was arrested on 29 December 2020 by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in assets beyond means case. He was released on bail by Lahore High Court on 23 June 2021 in the assets beyond means case.

He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-N from Constituency NA-73 (Sialkot-II) in 2018 Pakistani general election. He received 116,957 votes and defeated Usman Dar who received 115464 votes and won by only 1700+ votes. In May, 2019 he took the charge and became the Parliamentary Leader of PMLN in the National Assembly of Pakistan.

On 26 April 2018, he was disqualified from holding a public office for life by the Islamabad High Court over possessing a UAE work permit. He was unseated by the Election Commission of Pakistan as Member of the National Assembly. Following this Asif challenged his disqualification in the Supreme Court. In June 2018, the Supreme Court suspended the lifetime disqualification and declared the decision of Islamabad High Court null and void, and allowed Asif to contest elections.

He served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to April 2018 and simultaneously served as the Minister for Defence and Minister for Water and Power in the third Sharif ministry from 2013 to 2017.

He had ceased to hold ministerial office in July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Panama Papers case decision. Following the election of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Asif was inducted into the federal cabinet of Abbasi and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs for the first time. Earlier, Pakistan had no Minister for Foreign Affairs since the PML-N came to power in May 2013 as former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself held the cabinet portfolio of foreign affairs.

Asif's victory was challenged in 2013 elections by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleging he had received fake votes. On 10 November 2016 Supreme Court dismissed this petition.

In 2013 Pakistani general election, Asif was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly from NA 110 taking 92,848 votes against his opponent Usman Dar who obtained 71,573 votes.

In June 2013, he was appointed as the Minister of Water and Power and later given additional portfolio of Minister of Defence in November 2013 under Third Nawaz Sharif ministry.

In June 2012, a petition admitted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan's registrar stated that Asif holds dual nationality, and hence, according to Pakistan's constitution, he is not eligible to hold public office in Pakistan. Following this, the Federal Investigations Agency and the Supreme Court began an investigation pursuing inquiries of Asif's dual nationality charges. The court did not find him guilty of the charges petitioned against him; the petitioner who leveled the charges withdrew the accusations and issued a formal apology.

Asif contested 2008 general election from NA 110 and obtained 73,007 votes.

He was briefly appointed as the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, as well as the Minister of Sports in the Gillani ministry in 2008 before his party pulled out of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government.

In 2007, he was awarded honorary doctorate degree in international relations by the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations .

He was re-elected to the National Assembly in 1997 general election Khawaja Asif contested 2002 general election elections from NA 110 and won his seats by taking 42,743 votes.

He was appointed as the chairman of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan with the status of a minister during Second Nawaz Sharif ministry in 1997. His tenure was terminated following the counter-coup 1999 coup d'état in which then Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in response to Sharif indirectly hijacking Musharraf's plane and ordering it to land outside Pakistan.

Asif began his political career after getting elected to the Senate of Pakistan during the Sharif's first ministry in 1991. Since 1997, he had served as a member of the federal cabinet, in various positions. From 1997 to 1999, he was as the chairman of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan during the second government of Nawaz Sharif. He briefly held the cabinet portfolios of the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources in the Gillani ministry in 2008, with an additional charge as Minister for Sports.

Asif began his political career in 1991 on returning to Pakistan following the death of his father after living in the United Arab Emirates for many years. In 1991, he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan as a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) for three years. He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-110 (Sialkot) in 1993 general election.

Khawaja Muhammad Asif (Urdu: خواجہ محمد آصف; born 9 August 1949) is a Pakistani politician currently serving as the Defence Minister of Pakistan since April 2022, He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, since August 2018. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2018 and till date. In May, 2019 he took the charge and became the Parliamentary Leader of PML-N in the National Assembly of Pakistan.

Asif was born on 9 August 1949 in Sialkot, Punjab, to Khawaja Muhammad Safdar. He received his early education at Cadet College Hasan Abdal. He attained his bachelor's degree from Government College University Lahore , but was gifted L.L.B. degree from the University Law College, Lahore. Asif is a banker by profession and has worked in the different banks of the United Arab Emirates on iqama where he lived for several years until 1999. He has a son and three daughters.