Shah Mehmood Qureshi

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi is the current Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, in office since 20 August 2018. He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018 and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in office since December 2011.

Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Hussain Qureshi was born on June 22, 1956 in Murree. His family is from Multan which gets very hot in the summer. So the trend was to escape the heat and go to Murree for the summer and that’s where they were when he was born. He spent the first few years of his life in Multan and then went to Aitchison College Lahore, as a boarder. After Aitchison, he joined FC College for his bachelors. After his bachelors, he went to Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University in UK to study law, and then came back to Pakistan.

During his political career, he has been elected member of the Punjab assembly from 1985 to 1988, then again re-elected from 1988 to 1990 and from 1990 to 1993. He has also been elected Chairman District Council Multan from 1987 to 1991. He served as Provincial Minister of Finance Punjab from 1990-93 and Minister of State for Parliamentary affairs from 1994-1996.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi also remained member of the National assembly from 1993 to 1996 and District Nazim Multan from 2001 to 2002. He has been elected MNA on PPPP ticket from Multan in 2008 elections.

Shah Mehmood Hussain Qureshi was the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in the coalition government of PPP, Muttahida Quami Movement [MQM], ANP and JUI-F formed after the 2008 general elections. He is a senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party, where he was the president of PPP Punjab.

After taking charge of the office, Qureshi immediately made clear that he was committed to establishing peace in the region and that maintaining friendly ties with neighboring India were amongst his top priorities.

Qureshi went on his first visit as foreign minister to China with President Asif Ali Zardari. On his arrival back, he was given praise for his work. Qureshi has visited many countries as Foreign Minister and has been very busy explaining Pakistan's stance on the war on terror to the foreign world.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi was snubbed in the 2011 Cabinet reshuffle. Many observers believe this was because he disagreed with the Prime Minister over whether Raymond Davis was legally a Diplomat. According to Qureshi, Raymond Davis was not a diplomat.

He is the head of the Qureshi family and has many followers in the country and in South Asia. Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi is also the current Sajjada Nashin and custodian of the Mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam and of the Shrine (Darbar) of Hazrat Baha-ud-din Zakariya. An agriculturalist by profession, Qureshi is also the president of the Farmers Association of Pakistan.

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has also been associated with organizations such as Farmers association Pakistan (FAP) in 1991, SOS in 1997 and Gymkhana Club in 1992.

Married and father of a son and two daughters, Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi has travelled to the USA, UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium and several countries in the Far East and Middle East. His hobbies include reading and watching TV.