Chaudhry Muhammad Tariq Bashir Cheema

Chaudhry Muhammad Tariq Bashir Cheema (born 11 November 1958) is a Pakistani politician from Bahawalpur who has served multiple terms in the National Assembly of Pakistan and held several federal cabinet portfolios. He belongs to a political family from Bahawalpur and is the elder brother of Tahir Bashir Cheema, a National Assembly member from Bahawalnagar.

Cheema was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab from Bahawalpur in 1993 as a candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), serving as Provincial Minister for Food and Agriculture. He was elected District Nazim (Mayor) of Bahawalpur in 2001 and re-elected in 2005, serving two consecutive terms. In 2003 he left the PPP to join the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q), going on to serve as the party’s Secretary General from 2003 to 2022.

Cheema was elected to the National Assembly from Bahawalpur in 2013 and again in 2018, chairing the Standing Committee on Science and Technology during his first term. Following the 2018 election he was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan, serving briefly as Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions before being appointed Federal Minister for Housing and Works, a position he held until his resignation in March 2022.

Cheema later served as Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research from 2022 to 2023. He was re-elected to the National Assembly from NA-165 Bahawalpur-II in the 2024 general election on a PML-Q ticket.