Ayaz Sadiq

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (born 17 October 1954) is a Pakistani politician and businessman serving as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of the federal parliament, since March 2024. He is one of the senior members of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) on the politics of Pakistan.

Born in Lahore, Sadiq previously served as the 17th Speaker of the National Assembly from 2013 to 2018. Sadiq is also notable for overseeing voting on the motion of no-confidence against Imran Khan in April 2022; the next day, he oversaw voting for the election of the subsequent Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. He is currently a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA-120 (Lahore-IV), having been elected to the Assembly in every election since 2002.

Early life and education

Sadiq was born on 17 October 1954 into a Kashmiri Shaikh family in Lahore to businessman Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq and Attiya Sadiq, a social worker and philanthropist. His grandfather had served as the Deputy Mayor of Lahore and was a political activist close to Fatima Jinnah.

He completed his education at Aitchison College, Lahore. Imran Khan, Nisar Ali Khan, Pervaiz Khattak, Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Zulfiqar Ali Magsi were among his class fellows at Aitchison College. After completing his Senior Cambridge, Sadiq received a degree in commerce from Hailey College of Punjab University in 1975.

Pakistan Muslim League (N) Sadiq left PTI in 1998 owing to differences with Imran Khan During his tenure as the member of the National Assembly, he became the chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committees on Railways.

In 2015, Imran Khan alleged rigging in the constituency of Sadiq from where Sadiq won in 2013 election. Following which the Election Commission of Pakistan de-seated Sadiq and ordered re-polling in the constituency. In October 2015, Sadiq retained his National Assembly seat by defeating a PTI candidate in by-election and was re-elected to the National Assembly for the fourth time. In November 2015, Sadiq retained its position as the speaker of the National Assembly by getting re-elected for the second time and become the first person to have been elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly for the second time during the same government's tenure in Pakistan. On 15 August 2018, he was replaced by Asad Qaiser as speaker of the National Assembly. and cool-headed politician in Pakistan.

Amid the April 2022 political crisis in Pakistan, when the speaker and the deputy speaker resigned, he was asked to hold voting on a no-confidence motion against the prime minister of Pakistan.

Personal life

Family Sadiq married Reema Ayaz in 1977, and has a daughter and two sons.

Philanthropy He along with members of his family runs a non-profit hospital Sardar Trust Eye Hospital, established in Lahore in 1994. Previously, his grandfather had founded the Sheikh Sardar Muhammad Girls High School in Lahore after partition encouraging women education; the school was later nationalised. It was the first Muslim Girls School established in the locality.