Chaudhry Salik Hussain

Pakistani politician

Chaudhry Salik Hussain

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 April 2024
Prime Minister	Shehbaz Sharif
Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 March 2024
Prime Minister	Shehbaz Sharif
Preceded by	Sarfraz Bugti
Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 February 2024
Constituency	NA-64 Gujrat-III
In office 29 October 2018 – 10 October 2023
Constituency	NA-65 (Chakwal-II)

Personal details
Nationality	Pakistani
Political party	Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
Parent	Shujaat Hussain^[1] (father)
Relatives	Shafay Hussain (brother)

Chaudhry Salik Hussain is a Pakistani politician who is the current Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development., in office since March 2024 and Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony since 4 April 2024. He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since October 2018.

Political career

He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q) from Constituency NA-65 (Chakwal-II) in by-election held on 14 October 2018.^[2]^[3]

On 22 April 2022, he was sworn in as the Federal Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He served without a portfolio for nearly three weeks before being appointed as the Federal Minister for the Board of Investment. He was reportedly tasked with overseeing Chinese and other foreign direct investments and implementing special measures in this regard.^[4]

He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PML-Q from Constituency NA-64 Gujrat-III in 2024 Pakistani general election.^[5] He received 105,205 votes and defeated PTI-backed independent candidate Qaisara Ealhi, who secured 80,946 votes.^[6]

On 11 March, he was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and was appointed as Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.^[7] On 4 April, he was given the additional ministerial portfolio of Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony.^[8]

On 8 April, during a joint press conference, Qaisera Elahi, the wife of Pervez Elahi, and Sumaira Elahi, sister of Shujaat Hussain, accused Salik and his brother Shafay of dividing the family into two factions for power. Elahi stated, “Shujaat Hussain’s sons call themselves the heirs of Zahoor Elahi but his politics had never been like this.” She further mentioned that both siblings utilized their father Shujaat as a "tissue paper", adding that they fractured the family with the assistance of Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi.^[9] Fractures within the family began to emerge during the No-confidence motion against Imran Khan in April 2022.^[10]

Controversies

In 2020, when the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) accused PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of money laundering and accumulating illegal assets, Salik and his brother Shafay Hussain were also implicated in the inquiry for providing loans totaling Rs1.5 billion to various companies owned by them.^[11] According to the investigation, bank accounts belonging to Shafey and Salik received foreign remittances totaling Rs 58.7 billion since 2004 and the five individuals who were part of the investigation denied sending any remittances, which indicated that the accused likely used fake identities to funnel unexplained funds from foreign countries to Pakistan.^[12]

References

^ Dhakku, Nabeel Anwar (17 September 2018). "PML-N candidate backs out of NA-65 by-poll". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
^ "By-election 2018: Unofficial, partial results". Geo News. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
^ Chaudhry, Fahad (18 October 2018). "ECP notifies victory of 22 candidates, withholds notices of 13 others for not disclosing campaign costs". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
^ "Chaudhry Salik gets portfolio of Investment Board". The Nation. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
^ Desk, NNPS (9 February 2024). "PML-Q' Ch Salik Hussain wins NA-64 election". Retrieved 11 March 2024.
^ "NA-64 Election Result 2024 Gujrat-III, Candidates List". ARYNEWS. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
^ Guramani, Nadir (11 March 2024). "PM Shehbaz's 19-member cabinet sworn in". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
^ "Shehbaz gives additional portfolios to five ministers". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ "Prison fails to change Parvez Elahi's loyalty to Imran Khan: Qaisera". www.thenews.com.pk. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
^ Butt, Waseem Ashraf (21 January 2024). "It's aunt versus nephew on two Gujrat seats". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (25 July 2020). "PML-Q leaders laundered money, built assets: NAB". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
^ "New NAB cases against Chaudhrys of Gujrat". www.thenews.com.pk. 25 July 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2024.