Shuja Khanzada
| Shuja Khanzada | |
|---|---|
| شجاع خانزاده | |
Khanzada as Captain of PAVO Cavalry, 1969
|
|
| Home Minister of Punjab | |
|
In office 14 October 2014 – 16 August 2015 |
|
| Appointed by | Shehbaz Sharif |
| Environment Protection Minister of Punjab | |
|
In office 10 June 2013 – 16 August 2015 |
|
| Appointed by | Shehbaz Sharif |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
28 August 1943 Shadikhan, Punjab Province, British India |
| Died | 16 August 2015 (aged 71) Shadikhan, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Children | Jahangir Khanzada (son) |
| Alma mater | Islamia College |
| Religion | Islam |
| Awards |
 Tamgha-e-Basalat
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Pakistan
|
| Service/branch |
 Pakistan Army
|
| Years of service | 1967–1994 |
| Rank |
 Colonel
|
| Unit | 13th Lancers |
| Battles/wars |
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Siachen conflict |
Shuja Khanzada (Urdu: شجاع خانزاده; 28 August 1943 – 16 August 2015) was a Pakistani politician and Pakistan Army colonel, who served as the Home Minister of Punjab from 2014 until his assassination on 16 August 2015.
As an army officer, Khanzada fought in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war, before partaking in the Siachen conflict in 1983. Retiring from the military, Khanzada entered politics in 1996. He was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly thrice, in 2002, 2008, and 2013; the latter as a PML (N) candidate from his . Appointed Home Minister in 2014, Khanzada spearheaded the campaign against terrorism and sectarian militancy in Punjab.
On 16 August 2015, Khanzada was assassinated in a in Shadikhan, Attock. The militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility for the attack, in retaliation for the killing of LeJ chief Malik Ishaq during Khanzada's tenure.
Khanzada was born in an agriculturist Pathan family belonging to the Yousafzai clan in Shadikhan, . The Khanzada family of Attock were long involved in politics. His grandfather Captain Ajab Khan was a member of the Indian Legislative Assembly (in British India) and his uncle Taj Muhammad Khanzada was a member of the National Assembly and Punjab Provincial Assembly from the 1950s to the late 1990s. He matriculated at the Public School Nowshera, followed by FSc. and graduation from the Islamia College in Peshawar with a bachelor's degree in arts in 1966. In 1967, he was commissioned into the Pakistan Army. Khanzada was married and had three children. His son, Jahangir Khanzada, succeeded him as a member of the provincial assembly in by-elections on 6 October 2015 from the family's native constituency of PP-16, following Shuja's assassination. Three of his cousins died in the Mardan funeral bombing in 2013. Another family member, Major Javed Alam Khanzada was a senior bureaucrat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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