Minister for Parliamentary Affairs & Federal Minister of Law
Dr. Zaheer-ud-din Babar awan born 27 January 1957 is a senator in Pakistans upper House , he is a leading practising lawyer and a member of Pakistan Peoples Party Central Executive Committee. Babar Awan won the Senate election in 2006 unopposed on the ticket of PPPP which was a parliamentry name of Benazirs PPP.
Early life and education
Awan was born in a village in Kahuta, near Islamabad.His father was a police lower level officer during the British Raj. He is also known as ” Baber Haiwaan ” in the general pakistani public.He is the right hand of zardari…
Political career
Awan was a student leader in his student life. At the time of execution of Z A Bhutto he came to limelight as he publically supported the execution by supreme court for murder of a political opponent and like thousands of others suffering political workers of the right wing distributed sweets. He was a young political student leader then. An act he does not like to mention even to his close friends any more. Later he became close to Ms.Naheed Khan and Benazir Bhutto and became a senator with her support as one of her loyalist from Sargodha changed sides.
Popularity
Came the first time from the limelight in the 1990s when he was ousted after a brief period and the second government of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s leading several
Peoples personalities implicated in the party of corruption cases by the government of his rival Nawaz Sharif. Appointed many of the leaders of Pakistan People’s Party as a lawyer Babar Awan and their legal status. He is a lawyer specializing in criminal cases, but also experts from white-collar crime cases. Took time to about 10 cases of Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, along with pride and H. Ahsan Farouk and his cousin was killed at a rally NaekAwan PPP political, and thus become more involved politically in time for the PPP. Benazir Bhutto was impressed by the time the special skills, and offered him to contest the 1997 election as a candidate nominated by PPPAwan was also a friend of the brother of Benazir Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto.
Since 1998, Awan’s political career has had a meteoric rise. In 2007, he was present when Benazir Bhutto’s return was announced in a press conference.He was the lawyer of Makhdoom Ameen Faheem in the 2007 Presidential Elections
Links with other political parties
The PPP has used Awan for dialogue with other political parties. Awan is highly supported in his Awan tribe. His political base lies in his hometown. Awan’s elder brother was also a worker of the Pakistan People’s Party. His another brother is a worker of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Punjab. In 2011, Awan held negotiations on behalf of the Pakistan Peoples Party with the Pakistan Muslim League. This led to an alliance between the PPP and the PML, which further strengthened the PPP government and gave them a majority in Parliament.
Finance secretary of the Pakistan People’s Party
In 2004 Benazir Bhutto appointed Awan as the finance secretary of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Senate Election March 2006
In 2006 Awan contested the Senate Election and was elected unopposed.
Benazir Bhutto’s assassination attempts
Awan was present on 19 October attack on Benazir Bhutto and then when Benazir Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi.
Loyal PPP activist
Babar Awan was Benazir’s speech writer and her negotiating link while she was in Dubai. She dubbed him as a younger brother. He was tipped to be senior minister had she been alive and in power. Awan has been arrested several time in Nawaz Sharif’s reign and in Pervez Musharraf’s reign. In November 2004, Awan was hit in the head by a gas shell. The scar is still prominent on his forehead. He was put under house arrest in 2007.
Military government of Musharaf
When military government of Musharaf took over an accountability body NAB it carried out further so called cleansing but it often ending up with victimization of politicians who did not cooperate with Musharaf for his undemocratic credentials.
Over a period of time a huge collection of varied political leadership involving everybody not cooperating with Musharraf were implicated .This list was long and included the former chief minister of Punjab Manzoor Watoo current PPP co-chairperson asif Zardari the personal secretary of Benazir Bhutto Nahid Khans husband and civil servants as Salman Farooqui who all used Dr.Babar Awans legal skills and oratory to good effect .
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs & Federal Minister of Law
He was appointed Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in November, 2008. He was elevated as Law Minister in December 2009.
Haris Steel case
In November 2009, National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan summoned Awan after he was accused for getting bribes worth of 30 million Pakistani Rupees from the owners of the Haris Steel Mill in order to get a favorable verdict from the court. Awan was reported to have said that he had certainly not taken 30 million rupees and that the money he had taken was his professional fee. He further said that anyone was welcome to pursue any complaint in any professional body. In 2011, Sheikh Afzal, the owner of Haris Steel Mill, stated that he has been pressurized by the Punjab Government to issue a statement against Awan. The charges were later dropped against Awan, due to Sheikh Afzal’s statement.
Fake Degree Accusation
In 2008, Awan was accused of holding a fake Ph.D degree. Awan had gotten the degree from Monticello University in the United States, which was later shut down in 2000. Awan, who got the degree in 1997, has stated that he had no idea at the time that the university was a diploma mill.
Benazir Bhutto murder case
His name was highlighted in April 2010 after a United Nations investigation report into the murder of Benazir Bhutto, but his name was dropped due to lack of evidence. This was surprising for Awan and other PPP members who had reportedly heard Benazir say that Awan was her “brother”.
Contempt of court
On January 5, 2012, Awan was issued a contempt of court notice by Supreme Court of Pakistan, due to a comment he made while talking to the media on 4 January. His license to practice law was subsequently suspended on 17 January for an indefinite period. The Supreme Court further asked the Federal Government to appoint someone else as their lawyer in the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case. Prominent Lawyer like Ali Ahmad Kurd, disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend Awan’s license.
Witness in Contempt Case
The President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari in a briefing to his close confidants disclosed that he had given a personal gurante that Babar Awan will appear before the court as a witness in Prime Minister’s contempt case. This was later confirmed by Prime Ministers council Aitezaz Ahsan in an interview given to Arshad Sharif for his program KYUN. Aitezaz said Babar’s name was given to him by the President and PM both but Babar Awan refused to show up which irked the
