Khawaja Asif

Khawaja Muhammad Asif
خواجہ محمد آصف
Asif in 2015
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 March 2024
President	Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister	Shehbaz Sharif
Preceded by	Anwar Ali Hyder (caretaker)
In office 19 April 2022 – 10 August 2023
President	Arif Alvi
Prime Minister	Shehbaz Sharif
Preceded by	Pervez Khattak
Succeeded by	Anwar Ali Hyder (caretaker)
In office 27 November 2013 – 28 July 2017
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister	Nawaz Sharif
Preceded by	Naveed Qamar
Succeeded by	Khurram Dastgir Khan
33rd Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 4 August 2017 – 26 April 2018
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister	Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
Preceded by	Sartaj Aziz (as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs)
Succeeded by	Khurram Dastgir Khan
Minister for Water and Power
In office 7 June 2013 – 28 July 2017
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister	Nawaz Sharif
Deputy	Abid Sher Ali
Preceded by	Ahmad Mukhtar
Succeeded by	Syed Javed Ali Shah (as minister for Water Resources) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (as minister for Energy)
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources
In office 31 March 2008 – 13 May 2008
President	Pervez Musharraf
Prime Minister	Yusuf Raza Gillani
Succeeded by	Asim Hussain
Minister for Sports
In office 31 March 2008 – 13 May 2008
President	Pervez Musharraf
Prime Minister	Yusuf Raza Gillani
Member of National Assembly of Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 February 2024
Constituency	NA-71 Sialkot-II
In office 13 August 2018 – 10 August 2023
Constituency	NA-73 (Sialkot-II)
In office 1 June 2013 – 31 May 2018
Constituency	NA-110 Sialkot-I
In office 17 March 2008 – 16 March 2013
Constituency	NA-110 Sialkot-I
In office 16 November 2002 – 15 November 2007
Constituency	NA-110 Sialkot-I
In office 17 February 1997 – 12 October 1999
Constituency	NA-85 Sialkot-I
In office 19 October 1993 – 5 November 1996
Constituency	NA-85 Sialkot-I
Member of the Senate of Pakistan
In office 1991–1994
Personal details
Born	(1949-08-09) 9 August 1949 (age 75) Sialkot, West Punjab, Pakistan
Political party	Pakistan Muslim League (N) (1993-present)
Spouse	Musarrat Asif Khawaja[1]
Relations	Farooq Naek (cousin)[2]
Parent	Khawaja Muhammad Safdar (father)
Alma mater	University of the Punjab

Khawaja Muhammad Asif (Urdu: خواجہ محمد آصف; born 9 August 1949) is a Pakistani politician who serves as the Defence Minister of Pakistan from since 19 April 2022, he also has the Responsibility of Federal Minister for Aviation since 11 March 2024.^[3] Previously having Defence Ministry post from April 2022 to August 2023 in Shehbaz Sharif's Government. Previously, he had also been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till August 2023. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2018 and till date. Since May 2019 he is nominated by PMLN to act as the Parliamentary Leader in National Assembly, he acted in this role till the dissolution of the assembly in 2023 and again took the charge after elections on 2 March 2024.

He served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to April 2018 and simultaneously served as the Minister for Defence and Minister for Water and Power in the third Sharif ministry from 2013 to 2017.

Asif began his political career after getting elected to the Senate of Pakistan during the Sharif's first ministry in 1991. Since 1997, he had served as a member of the federal cabinet, in various positions. From 1997 to 1999, he was as the chairman of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan during the second government of Nawaz Sharif. He briefly held the cabinet portfolios of the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources in the Gillani ministry in 2008, with an additional charge as Minister for Sports.

He is a Member of National Assembly of Pakistan and was elected in 2024 from Sialkot.^[4]