Syed Fakhar Imam

His father, Syed Imam Shah AliGarh graduate (1933), served in British Army as Recruiting Officer and was a leading landlord of his area.

Imam studied at Aitchison College, Lahore, then joined Clifton College, an English public school before turning to study agriculture at the University of California, Davis.

Syed Fakhar Imam (سید فخر امام; born 18 December 1942) is a Pakistani politician and statesman who has held several positions in the Government of Pakistan including, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the Minister for Law and the Minister for Education, and served as Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, from April 2020 to April 2022.

Imam was born on December 18, 1942, in Lahore.

He belongs to Qatalpur, Khanewal District.

As the head of the Pakistan Parliamentary Delegation, he presented a comprehensive account of Indian atrocities in Kashmir and requested world attention for resolving the long pending issue in accordance with the UN resolutions of 1948-49.

From 1968 to 1969, he served in Central Superior Services of the Government of Pakistan to gain an understanding of the bureaucracy; not intending to make it his life's work.

From 1970-1974, he worked in the private sector.

In 1975, he served as Honorary Secretary for Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan.

He was elected as the Chairman of Punjab Cricket Association from 1976 to 1977.

In 1980, He began his political career when he was elected as the Chairman District Council, Multan and was appointed as Federal Minister for Local Government and Rural Development in 1981 and resigned as a matter of honor, in December 1983 when he lost his local district council election of Multan District by one vote.

From 1981 to 1982, Imam served as the Chairman of the Local Government Commission.

Imam served as Chairman of the Sports Committee to promote the spirit of sports among youth and the educational institutions of Pakistan.

He was preceded by Malik Meraj Khalid, serving as the 11th speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 1985 to 1986.

Imam has previously worked as the Chairman of Pakistan's Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir.

He was elected to the national assembly as independent party candidate and subsequently joined Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

In the non-party General Elections in February 1985, he was elected to the National Assembly from Multan District.

On February 25, 1985, then-president Zia Ul Haq arranged non-party general elections and was confident of getting his favorite speaker, Khawaja Safdar and the father of Khawaja Asif elected to run the House.

On March 22, 1985, by 119 votes to 111 votes, Imam defeated Safdar the chosen candidate for Chief Martial Law Administrator by Zia Ul Haq and Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo, what was widely seen as the biggest upset victory.

Two months later, at the conclusion of the budget debate, Imam shocked the assembly when deemed martial law "illegal and without lawful authority" since funds needed to administer it were not reflected in the budget.

On May 26, 1986, Rana Nazir Ahmad moved a no-confidence motion against Imam and 152 Members of the National Assembly voted to remove Imam while he received only 72 votes which resulted in removing him from the office.

After removing him from office, he served as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

Imam is married to Syeda Abida Hussain who served as the Minister of Population Control and Census and Minister of Food and Agriculture in the government of Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan's ambassador to the US from 1991 to 1993.

They have three children, Syeda Umme Kulsum, an entrepreneur, and Syeda Sughra Imam and Syed Abid Hussain Imam who are politicians.

In 2019, as a Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Imam was an advocate of the cause of Kashmir on numerous forums including the 141st Inter-Parliamentary Union which was held in Belgrade, Serbia on October 16, 2019, when he stated that the besieged Valley of Indian Occupied Kashmir may endanger global peace beyond repair if not addressed comprehensively.

On May 27, 2019, Imam expressed his sorrow and grief on the sad demise of ambassador Mohammad Yusuf Buch who died in New York after a long illness.

Imam stated that the late Buch was a true Kashmiri, and a distinguished diplomat who served the country for a long time and the people of Pakistan particularly Kashmiri cannot forget his services while working in the United Nations for the Kashmir cause.

President Arif Alvi administered oath to Imam as Federal Minister for National Food Security on April 6, 2020 in a ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

In 2022, Imam represented Pakistan in the 7th D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Food Security which was held virtually in Bangladesh from January 12 to 13, 2022 under the theme, Promotion of Climate Smart Agriculture: Key issues for D-8 Member States, ministers of agriculture, forestry, food, livestock, and rural development from Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Turkey participated in the meeting.

On September 15, 2021, Imam represented the audience with Pakistan's National Food Security Policy and shared the achievements of Pakistan in the sector of agriculture and the production of staple foods in the Food Security in Asia: Prospects of Cooperation in the framework of CICA conference.

In 2022, Imam inaugurated the National Agricultural Exhibition which was held on February 27 and 28, and arranged by the University of Sargodha.

In 2023, Imam participated as the keynote speaker in the Food Security for Pakistan seminar organized by the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS), where Imam pointed out that national security, international security and food security were all interlinked in his message on the Role of Agriculture Sector and Food Security in Pakistan, and contended that the five major agri-universities in Pakistan were not up to international standards and had outdated curricula.