Muhammad Safdar Awan is a retired Pakistan Army officer and Pakistani politician who served in the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2008 to May 2018.
Because of his prior military experience, he is often referred to as Captain Safdar by his supporters and the media, and because of his critical position on secularism, public support for Mumtaz Qadri, and frequent statements criticising the Ahmadiyya community, he is often regarded as a far-right politician.
Early and Personal Life
Safdar comes from a traditional Sufi family, and his father, Muhammad Ishaq, who died in 2014, was a poet and writer specialising in Islamic matters. Sajjad Awan, his elder brother, is also a politician. Tahir Awan is his younger brother.
After finishing his primary and secondary studies, he joined the Pakistan Army.
Safdar married Maryam Nawaz in 1992 while serving as a captain in the Pakistan Army, and he has been Nawaz Sharif’s ADC during his stint as Prime Minister of Pakistan. After retiring as a captain from the Pakistan Army, he entered the civil sector and was assigned as the assistant commissioner of Lahore Model Tow
Political Career
Safdar entered politics after returning to Pakistan with the Sharif family in 2007.
Electoral Triumph in the June 2008 By-Election
In the June 2008 by-election, he was elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) from Constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III). He received 54,917 votes and defeated a Pakistan Muslim League (Q) contender.
Chief Organizer of PML-N Youth Wing
Safdar was appointed main organiser of the PML-N Youth Wing in 2011.
Suspension from PML-N
He was suspended from the PML-N in 2012 for verbally abusing PML-N leaders.
Success in the 2013 General Election
In the 2013 Pakistani general election, Safdar was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of the PML-N from Constituency NA-21. He garnered 91,013 votes and was a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) candidate.
Imran Khan's Accusations and ECP Inquiry
Imran Khan mentioned Safdar to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in May 2016 for concealing Maryam Nawaz’s assets. He denied it, although he was summoned by ECP in June 2016.
Nomination in the 2018 General Election
In June 2018, he was given a PML-N ticket to run in the 2018 general election from NA-14.
Controversies
In the Avenfield corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau, he was sentenced to one year in prison in July 2018. As a result, he was barred from running for office for ten years. He arrived in Rawalpindi the next day and surrendered to the authorities. He was released on bail in September 2018 on the Avenfield corruption accusations.
Safdar was detained from a Karachi hotel on 19 October 2020 for “violating the sanctity of Quaid’s mausoleum” and freed on bail the same day.