Raja Pervaiz Ashraf (; born 26 December 1950) is a Pakistani politician, businessman and agriculturist who is the Speaker of the National Assembly since April 2022 and was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA-58 (Rawalpindi-II). He also served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from 22 June 2012 until completing his designated term on 16 March 2013. He has also served as the Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an anti-establishment coalition of political parties in Pakistan.
Prior to being elevated as prime minister, he served as the Minister for Water and Power in the Yousaf Raza Gillani-led government from March 2008 to February 2011. A senior-ranking leader in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from Rawalpindi District, Ashraf assumed premiership on 22 June 2012 after Yousaf Raza Gillani was disqualified over contempt of court charges. Shortlisted by the PPP as a candidate for the post, he was eventually elected based on a 211–89 vote in the National Assembly.
Tackling the corruption scandals, one of the major achievements during his premiership was his interest to develop and implement hydro projects in particular the 970-MW Neelum-Jhelum project. The project had received a big jolt when the Chinese Exim Bank refused to release a $448 million loan linking it to the restoration of the Safe City Project in Islamabad which was stopped by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. During his tenure Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) launched a number of mega and medium-sized projects in Gilgit–Baltistan.
Personal life and childhood
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was born on 26 December 1950 in Sanghar, Sindh. Ashraf belongs to the Minhas clan of Pakhral and is originally from Gujar Khan, an industrial town in the Rawalpindi District of the Potohar region in northern Punjab. The Potohar region is home to numerous prominent political and military personalities. Ashraf comes from a middle class Potohari-speaking family of landowners who have had a traditional background in politics. An uncle of his served as a minister in the cabinet of Ayub Khan during the 1960s. His parents owned agricultural land in the town of Sanghar in Sindh, where he was born and brought up.
He graduated from the University of Sindh in 1970 and was involved in agriculture before entering politics. He is married to Nusrat Pervaiz Ashraf and has four children, which include two sons and two daughters. Ashraf is multilingual and can fluently speak English, Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.
Early political career
He is regarded as an important PPP loyalist and leader in the Rawalpindi region. He contested parliamentary elections in 1990, 1993 and 1997. He won in elections held in 2002 and then in 2008, following which he was appointed as federal minister for water, and as power minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.
Member of Parliament
Ashraf has been twice elected Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan (MNA) from his constituency of Gujar Khan, Rawalpindi District. He won re-election in the February 2008 elections. During his time as an MNA, he served as a member of the Standing Committee on Kashmir and the Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights. Before his ascendance to the post of prime minister, he was also the secretary general of the PPP.
Water and Power ministry
He became the head of the Water and Power Ministry in the coalition government of PPP, PML-N, ANP, JUI-F and MQM formed after the 2008 elections. During his tenure as power minister, there was a chronic shortage of electricity generation throughout the country and power cuts (load shedding) remained frequent. In the position, he faced heavy criticism for repeatedly promising the country's power crisis would be over "by 2008" as the country suffered regular blackouts. He became one of the most sought after ministers in the National Assembly, by legislators who demanded answers for the power crisis. According to a report on his parliamentary performance, the water and power ministry while Ashraf was in-charge received as many as 1,147 official questions and queries, of which only 60% were responded to.