Abdul Ghafoor Haideri

Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri (Urdu: مولانا عبد غفور حیدری‎) he is serving as the Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since 12 March 2015 and the central General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party since 1995.^[1]

Early life

Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri was born in June 1957 to Muhammad Azam Lehri in Gazag, Kalat District, Pakistan. He attended religious seminaries around the country, completing his Islamic studies with certification from Wafaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia in 1979.^[1]

Haideri was active in Tehrik-e-Khatm-e-Nabowat in 1974 and Tehreek Nizam-e-Mustafa in 1977, for which police twice imprisoned him. In 1983, he was elected General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party in Quetta district. He got himself arrested a third time on 14 August 1983 in Manan square in Quetta during the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy's campaign to Fill the Prisons and destabilize President Zia ul-Haq's government. The military sentenced him to 10 lashes and one year in Sibi prison.^[1]

He opened the Jamia Shah Wali Ullah school in Kalat on 10 October 1984, teaching there from 1985 to 1990. He won a seat in the Balochistan Assembly on 13 October 1990 and served as a provincial minister. He ran for the Chief Minister of Balochistan in 1992 but lost by one vote. In 1993, he was elected to the National Assembly.^[1]

In 2001, Haideri campaigned against Pakistan's cooperation with the US government's Global War on Terror, touring the country and earning his fourth arrest, this time on seven counts of mutiny. He spent five months in jail in Quetta before winning another election to the National Assembly. In 2008, he won a seat in the national Senate, serving as Chief Whip and leader of the opposition until 2010. In 2013, he became the Minister of State for Postal Services.He is currently serving as a deputy chairman senate.^[1]

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