Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi (born 22 June 1956) is a Pakistani politician from Multan who has twice served as Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, first from 2008 to 2011 and again from 2018 to 2022. He belongs to the Qureshi family of Multan, hereditary custodians of the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya, and has been one of the most prominent political figures of southern Punjab for nearly four decades.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi began his political career in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, to which he was elected three consecutive times between 1985 and 1993, serving as Provincial Minister for Planning and Development and later for Finance. In 1993 he joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Multan, going on to serve as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. He was elected Mayor (District Nazim) of Multan in 2000 and later became President of PPP Punjab in 2006.

Following his re-election to the National Assembly in 2008, Shah Mahmood Qureshi was appointed Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, a post he held until 2011. In November 2011 he resigned from the PPP and joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), becoming the party’s first Vice Chairman. He was re-elected to the National Assembly from Multan in 2013 and 2018 on a PTI ticket, and served a second term as Foreign Minister from 2018 to 2022 under Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi resigned his National Assembly seat in April 2022 following the no-confidence vote against Imran Khan’s government. He was arrested in August 2023 in connection with the “cypher” case under the Official Secrets Act, and was acquitted by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore in July 2025 in a separate case linked to the May 2023 riots. He continues to serve as Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.