Fawad Chaudhry appointed information minister a second time

Published April 15, 2021
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has been given the portfolio of information for the second time. — APP/File
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has been given the portfolio of information for the second time. — APP/File

In the latest cabinet shuffle, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has been given the portfolio of information for the second time, Senator Faisal Javed Khan confirmed on Thursday.

In a tweet, Khan congratulated Chaudhry for "getting reappointed as Federal Minister for Information".

"Wish you all the best. Lots of prayers," he added.

Chaudhry replaces Shibli Faraz, who was appointed to the post in April of last year. Faraz was recently re-elected to the Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chaudhry had earlier been removed as information minister in April 2019, less than a year into the PTI government and given the portfolio of science and technology.

It is unclear whether Chaudhry will continue to hold the charge of the science and technology ministry as the government has yet to make the notification of his appointment public.

Who is Fawad Chaudhry?

Born in a politically active family in Jhelum, Chaudhry first dabbled in electoral politics when he contested the 2002 elections from a Punjab Assembly constituency and managed to secure only 161 votes.

He then joined Pervez Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) as its media coordinator and remained affiliated with it till 2012 when differences between him and Musharraf over the latter's decision to return to Pakistan led him to quit the APML and join the PPP.

Just before the 2013 general elections, he jumped ship once again and contested the polls for the National Assembly on a Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) ticket, albeit unsuccessfully.

Read | Fawad Chaudhry: The megaphone

Three years later, Chaudhry was ready to make a move again. In June 2016, he joined the PTI, a party he had chided on many talk shows including one he hosted himself.

He was rewarded with a ticket to contest a National Assembly by-election in Jhelum but lost. It was finally in the 2018 general elections that he won both National Assembly and Punjab Assembly seats in his native district but decided to retain the former and was inducted in the federal cabinet.

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...