Barjees Tahir is appointed Acting Governor of Gilgit Baltistan

Lahore: Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan Barjees Tahir has been appointed as “Acting Governor of Gilgit Baltistan” by President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain on the request of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Ch. Muhammad Barjees Tahir born 20 April 1949 in Sangla Hill is a prominent national politician, parliamentarian and a Federal Minister of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan in the 2013 Sharif-led cabinet from PML-N. A key member of parliament in Pakistan and a lawyer by profession, he graduated with masters in Law and Political Science from the Punjab University.

He started his political career from Lahore as a student activist. Later on he was elected as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan (MNA). He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan for the terms of 1990-1993, 1993-1997, and 1997-1999, and 2008-Present. At his tenure as MNA, many social, economical, educational and infrastructure developments were carried out in Sangla Hill and Sheikhupura. From 1990-1993, he served as Federal Parliamentary Secretary in the ministry of interior during Nawaz Sharif 1990-1993 government.

Later he served as a chairman of standing committee of communication. He was also famous for conducting an inquiry concerning a helicopter scandal in 1998, in which former President Farooq Leghari and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto were interrogated for their alleged role. Moreover, he represented Pakistan on numerous occasions at Inter-Parliamentary Union and other international forums.

After the overthrow of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) government in 1999 in a coup d’etat orchestrated by General Pervez Musharraf, he became one of the most vocal critic of the totalitarian military regime. He was arrested and harassed by the military regime on several occasions, and was also pressurized to join the PML (Q), the ruling party, but he refused and decided to stay loyal to PML (N).

He was also an activist in the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), and in 2004 he was the candidate for the Senate of Pakistan, a vacated seat by Shaukat Aziz who later became the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Recently, he won in the general election 2008, from NA-135 constituency. His party PML (N) is campaigning for the establishment of democracy in the country and he is also a federal joint secretary of Pakistan Muslim League-N.

Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir is married and has three daughters and a son.