Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Mahmood

Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Mahmood (also spelt Mehmood, born 12 September 1955) is a Pakistani businessman and politician from Rahim Yar Khan who served as the 36th Governor of Punjab from December 2012 to May 2013. He belongs to the Makhdoom family of Jamal Din Wali, Tehsil Sadiqabad, in District Rahim Yar Khan, and is chairman of the JDW Group, one of Pakistan’s major sugar and business conglomerates. He is a cousin of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.

Mahmood began his political career on the platform of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), winning a seat in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in 1988 and serving as Punjab’s Excise and Taxation Minister. He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1990 and was re-elected on Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) tickets through the 1990s. He later served as District Nazim (Chairman) of Rahim Yar Khan from 2001 to 2005.

Mahmood subsequently aligned with the Pakistan Muslim League (Functional), winning a Provincial Assembly seat in 2008 and serving as President of its Punjab chapter. At the end of 2012 he left PML-F to join the Pakistan Peoples Party at the request of then-President Asif Ali Zardari, who appointed him Governor of Punjab. He was sworn in on 3 January 2013 and resigned from the post on 13 May 2013 following PML-N’s victory in that year’s general election.

Since leaving the governorship, Mahmood has remained associated with the Pakistan Peoples Party, serving as President of its South Punjab chapter since 2016, while continuing to lead the JDW Group’s business interests in agriculture and sugar production.