Maulana Kausar Niazi | |
---|---|
Ministry of Religious Affairs | |
In office 14 August 1973 – 5 July 1977 |
|
President | Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry |
Prime Minister | Zulfikar Ali Bhutto |
Personal details | |
Born | Kausar Niazi 1934 Musa Khel district, Mianwali, British Indian Empire |
Nationality | Pakistani |
Political party | Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) |
Kausar Niazi, commonly known as Maulana Kausar Niazi (1934-1994), was a Pakistani politician and a religious leader in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Niazi, in Bhutto's premiership cabinet, was a most powerful federal minister in Pakistan during 1974 till 1977. Niazi was among one of the close aid and trusted confident of Bhutto who remained loyal to Bhutto until his death. He was born in Musa Khel district, Mianwali. He was a religious scholar and orator, who made a name for himself in politics, and was a member in Bhutto's the Federal Cabinet. He served as a minister and assisted Bhutto for 6 years. He was also a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
He served as the minister of Religious & Minorities Affairs till 1976 and was later appointed the Federal Information Minister. Maulana Kausar Niazi said that Zia-ul-Haq had deposed and ultimately destroyed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He later visited India as the goodwill emissary of the acting Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi.
In his later years, Maulana Kausar Niazi was rewarded for his loyalty to the Bhutto clan by being nominated to serve as the Chairman of the Islamic Ideology Council during Ms Benazir Bhutto's second government.