Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon

Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon (born November 10, 1962) is a Punjabi politician. He is better known for his politics in the Jalalpur Pirwala & Shujabad tehsils of District Multan. Nowadays, he is the Member of National Assembly from NA-153 on the platform of PML-N.

Early life and education

Noon was born in Multan, and is the son of Rana Muhammad Aslam Noon. He received an M.A. degree in Political Science in 1983, and an LL.B. in 1988 from Baha-ud-Din Zakariya University, Multan. In 1989, he received an M.A. in History from the University of the Punjab, Lahore.

Career

Noon was elected Member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab,^[1]^[2] contesting the election on both the national and provincial seats in the General Elections of 2002.^[3]^[4] He won both seats, but was defeated on the national seat in a recount. He worked as Minister for Agriculture Marketing from November 24, 2003 to November 30, 2006.^[5] He functioned as Minister for Labour and Human Resource from December 1, 2006 until December 2007. He also served as a member of the standing committee on Planning and Development and on the Committee on Privileges.

Noon again contested the General Elections of 2008, but this time only the National Assembly seat from NA-153. He was again defeated on a recount, receiving 68,762 votes. During the 2013 General Elections, he fought from NA-153 on a Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) ticket and managed to obtain an excess of 92,000 votes—the second highest number of votes on a PPPP ticket in all the provinces of Pakistan, except Sindh. Nevertheless, he still managed to lose, due to alleged vote rigging. As a result, this constituency was delayed for five days. Subsequently, he pursued the Higher Courts and Election Tribunal of his opponent who had conned the authorities by becoming member of parliament continuously on fake educational qualifications. Finally the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the tribunal and decided to disqualify his opponent, Dewan Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, for life. Moreover, it also announced three year rigorous imprisonment for the incumbent MNA but Rana Qasim Noon refused to pursue that matter as he did not want to see Dewan behind bars, as he belongs to an extremely respectable family of Southern Punjab. As a result, the bye-elections were announced for 17 March. Subsequently, the ruling party PML-N decided to award the MNA ticket to Rana Qasim Noon instead of the son of Dewan Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, Dewan Muhammad Abbas Bukhari; who was being supported by all the incumbent members of parliament of District Multan Nevertheless, the Dewan still decided to fight the election Independently, as no other party was willing to bank on him. However, he withdrew four days prior to the election day as he gauged that he was facing a humiliating defeat. Finaaly the Bye-Elections took place on the 17th of March, with the main competition happening between Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, Ghulam Abbas Khaki & Malik Akram Kanhoon. Despite the poor turnout due to poor weather conditions, Rana Qasim Noon managed to win by a record margin in Pakistani Bye-election history as he received 109,499 on the PML-N ticket, while his opponents managed to receive 34,451 & 31,354 votes on PTI & PPPP tickets respectively. Moreover, this victory margin of 75,048 is the highest in Southern Punjab since 1997.

Personal life

Noon's family has a long history in politics: his uncle, Rana Taj Ahmed Noon, was elected MNA (Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan) during 1972-77, 1977 and 1988–90; his uncle, Rana Shaukat Hayat Noon, was elected MNA during 1985-88; his uncle, Rana Gul Muhammad Noon, was a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly during 1951-55 and a member of the Provincial Assembly of West Pakistan during 1956-58; his brother Rana Suhail Ahmad Noon served as a member of the Punjab Assembly, and as Parliamentary Secretary/Advisor to the Chief Minister during 1993-96, and his cousin Rana Ejaz Ahmad Noonis two-time MPA (Member of the Provincial Assembly).

Noon was a practising lawyer and he also served as Chief Protocol Officer for Pakistan International Airlines during 1985-90. He is now a businessman, serving as CEO for Shujabad Textile Mill, Noon Oil, Elegance Industries, Noons Travel, Shahryar Movers and Falcon Group.

References

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