Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao
Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao (born August 20, 1944) is the head of Pakistan Peoples Party (Sherpao) and was the Federal Interior Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Prior to this assignment he was working as the Federal Minister for Water and Power (WAPDA), Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas and States & Frontier Regions (KANA & SAFRON) and Minister for Interprovincial Coordination.
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[edit] Biography
Aftab Khan was educated at Edwardes College, Peshawar and Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, Abbottabad. After passing out from Pakistan Military Academy with 34th Long Course in 1965, he joined Armoured Corps in the Probyns Horse Regiment, seeing action in both the '65 and '71 wars. Over a period of 12 years he rose to the rank of Major.
It was after the unfortunate assassination of his elder brother Hayat Sherpao in a bomb blast in 1975 that Aftab jumped into the political arena. The then Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto asked him to take an early retirement from his military career and afterwards nominated him as Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) provincial vice-president. Aftab Khan was thus a stalwart of the original unified Pakistan Peoples Party from North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan.
After the death of his political mentor Zulfikar Ali Bhutto he wholeheartedly supported his daughter Benazir Bhutto and her struggle against the military dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq. He was a key political figure of Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) from NWFP. It was in 1988 elections to the Provincial Assembly that he orchestrated the downfall of the establishment backed Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and became the Chief Minister of the province. He took an extra-nationalist line to appease the nationalist forces, hostile to his party and thus broadened his political base in their stronghold areas. He was once again elected as the Chief Minister of NWFP in 1994. However, in the mid nineties he developed serious differences with Benazir Bhutto when Maj-Gen Naseerullah Babar mistakenly suspected his role in undercutting him through allotment of party tickets in Nowshehra. Finally leading to the formation of his own faction of the party called PPP (Sherpao). In the 2002 general elections he struck key alliances within the NWFP and was elected to both the provincial and national assemblies and his party performed relatively well amidst the rout of his former party and the Muslim league in the frontier.
Known for his sharp administrative skills, he was appointed as the Minister for Water and Power in 2002. In addition to this charge, Sherpao was also made Miniter for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas & States and Frontier Regions (KANA & SAFRON) and Inter-Provincial Coordination. Subsequently after a cabinet re-shuffle in 2005, he was appointed as the Federal Interior Minister. He has been a prominent figure due to terrorist attacks and fighting in the tribal areas as well as Balochistan. He was re-elected to Pakistan's National Assembly and NWFP Provincial Assembly in the 2008 elections.
Aftab's family tree and cross-marriages in other influential families has given him a unique edge over his political opponents. Aftab's family (known as the Khans of Sherpao) has for long been a prominent and influential family in the NWFP. His father Khan Bahadur Ghulam Haider Khan Sherpao was a key figure in the Pakistan freedom movement and an influential political leader. His elder brother Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao was a founding member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, former Federal Minister and NWFP Governor and Senior Minister. His eldest brother, the late Wali Mohammad Khan's sister-in-law is the mother of former President of Pakistan Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari and grandmother of Sumera Malik and Ayla Malik (granddaughters of Malik Amir Mohammed Khan of Kalabagh. One of late Wali Mohammad Khan's daughter is married to the former President of Pakistan Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, his son Dr.Mohammad Zubair Khan was a Commerce Minister and his grandson Awais Leghari was a Minister of Telecommunications and member of National Assembly. Aftab himself is the son-in-law of the brother of Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar one of the pioneers of the Pakistan freedom movement. His elder son, Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, has already jumped into Provincial Politics and has been elected to the Provincial Assembly of the NWFP twice.
[edit] Militant attacks on Sherpao
[edit] 28 April suicide attack
On April 28, 2007 he was injured in a suicide attack in his home area of Charsadda, 18 miles northeast of Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province.[1] The attack shook his confidence in Musharraf's policy toward the militants, which has included a series of peace deals and has prompted Sherpao to support a 15-page document also presented to the US National Security Council in June 2007 warning that Islamists are spreading beyond the country's lawless tribal areas and that without "swift and decisive action," the growing militancy could engulf the rest of the country.
[edit] 21 December suicide attack
On December 21, 2007, Eid al-Adha, a suicide bomb blast targeting Aftab Ahmad killed at least 57 and injured over 100 at Jamia Masjid Sherpao, located in District Charsadda in the North-West Frontier Province. Aftab Ahmad survived the blast, but his younger son Mustafa Khan Sherpao, was injured. [2]
Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao showed true characteristics of a proper pukhtun by attending all Janaza's (funerals) of the deceased and meeting and consoling all those injured in both blasts, despite strong opposition by the Federal Government and Provincial Government of the NWFP who were deeply concerned about his security.
[edit] Pak-Afghan Joint Peace Jirga
To reaffirm and further strengthen the resolve of two brotherly countries to bring sustainable peace in the region, the Afghan-Pak Joint Peace Jirga was convened in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 9 to August 12, 2007. This was the first historic event of its kind that opened a channel of people-to-people dialogue in which around 700 people including members of the parliaments, political parties, religious scholars, tribal elders, provincial councils, civil society and business community of both countries participated.[3]
This jirga was aimed at removing differences between the two countries and bring Pukhtuns on both sides of the border together to tackle problems and end terrorism and extremism. Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, being a prominent and respected Pukhtun leader as well as being a pioneer of this cause was given the honour of being nominated Chairman of this Pak-Afghan Joint Peace Jirga.
The Jirga, generally thought to be a success, agreed on a number of issues and made a six point recommendation list to be implemented by both governments. Unfortunately despite Sherpao's efforts and a succession of calls by a number of leaders on both sides of the border, the Jirga has not been convened again.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lt Gen (r) Fazle Haq | Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province 2 December 1988 - 6 August 1990 | Succeeded by Mir Afzal Khan |
| Preceded by Pir Sabir Shah | Chief Minister 2nd term 24 April 1994 - 12 November 1996 | Succeeded by Raja Sikander Zaman |
| Preceded by Ghulam Mustafa Khar | Federal Minister for Water & Power November, 2002 - August, 2004 | Succeeded by Liaqat Jatoi |
| Preceded by Abbas Sarfaraz | Minister for Kashmir Affairs & Northern Areas, States & Frontier Regions November, 2002 - August, 2004 | Succeeded by Faisal Saleh Hayat |
| Preceded by - | Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination November, 2002 - August, 2004 | Succeeded by Salim Saifullah |
| Preceded by Faisal Saleh Hayat | Interior Minister of Pakistan 25 August 2004 - 15 November 2007 | Succeeded by Lt Gen (r) Hamid Nawaz Khan |
AFTAB SHERPAO BBC PROFILE
Aftab Sherpao, who appears to have been the target of a bomb attack at a Pakistani mosque, is well aware of Pakistan's problem with militancy. 
As interior minister in the outgoing government of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Mr Sherpao has been a key ally in President Pervez Musharraf's battle against Islamist bombers.
He was a prominent figure during the tense stand-off around Islamabad's Red Mosque earlier in 2007.
Hard-line clerics barricaded themselves and hundreds of religious students inside the mosque compound during the summer, eventually prompting a pitched battle with security forces that left many dead.
For his role in ending the siege at the Red Mosque Aftab Sherpao became a high-profile target for Pakistan's Islamist militants.
National figure
He had already survived one attempt on his life, in April 2007, when a suicide bomber attacked a rally for his political party, killing at least 28 people.
Years earlier, in 1975, Mr Sherpao's brother Hayat Sherpao was killed in a bomb blast. Shortly after that attack, Aftab Sherpao entered politics during the administration of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
He quickly rose to become a leading political figure in Pakistan's restive North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), serving as chief minister from 1988 for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
He was a strong supporter of Benazir Bhutto during her time as prime minister before splitting from her during the 1990s.
Like Ms Bhutto, Mr Sherpao spent some time in exile amid charges of corruption, before he eventually joined President Musharraf's military administration and left the PPP.
In recent years he has remained nationally prominent in the role of interior minister, charged with battling the country's Islamist threat, which he suggests is dangerous, widespread and growing.
