LAHORE: Senior politician and former foreign minister Sardar Asif Ahmad Ali passed away after a prolonged illness aged 82.
His funeral prayer will be offered today at 2 PM after Friday prayers in Lahore. Sardar Asif Ahmad Ali had sidelined himself from politics due to illness.
The veteran politician hailed from Punjab’s district Kasur. Asif Ahmad Ali was elected as a member of the National Assembly four times, from 1985 to 2008. He served Pakistan as foreign minister from 1993 to 96 during the tenure of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
In 2008, Asif Ahmad Ali was appointed as deputy chairman of planning. He has also served as the Minister for Education and Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication between 2008 and 2010.
Later in 2011, he left PPP and joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He left PTI in 2013 after expressing reservations when the party awarded the National Assembly ticket to his rival Khurshid Kasuri instead of him. In 2017, he rejoined the PTI again, terming PTI Chairman Imran Khan ‘the last hope’ for Pakistan.
Sardar Asif Ahmad Ali was born in 1940 and received his early education from Lawrence College, Ghora Gali. He later went to the Government College Lahore and St John’s College, Oxford.
