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{{Short description|Pakistani journalist, columnist, and politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ayaz Amir
| honorific-suffix =
| office = Member of the [[National Assembly of Pakistan]]
| term_start = 17 March 2008
| term_end = 16 March 2013
| constituency = [[Constituency NA-60|NA-60 (Chakwal-I)]]
| office1 = Member of the [[Provincial Assembly of Punjab]]
| term_start1 = 18 February 1997
| term_end1 = 1998
| constituency1 = PP-18 (Chakwal)
| birth_date =
| nationality = Pakistani
| party =
| alma_mater = [[Pakistan Military Academy]]
| otherparty = [[Pakistan Muslim League (N)]] <small>2002–2013</small>
| birth_place = [[Chakwal District]], [[Pothohar Plateau]], [[Punjab, Pakistan]]
}}

'''Ayaz Amir''' ({{Lang-ur|{{Nastaliq|ایاز امیر}}}}) is a Pakistani [[columnist]], former military officer, and [[politician]]. Previously, he had been a member of the [[Provincial Assembly of the Punjab]] in 1990s and a member of the [[National Assembly of Pakistan|National Assembly]] between 2008 and 2013.

==Early life==
Ayaz Amir was born in [[Chakwal District]]. He received his education from [[Lawrence College Murree]] and then joined [[Pakistan Military Academy]] as a cadet officer. He retired as a captain from the [[Pakistan Army]] and joined foreign service.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://herald.dawn.com/news/1153925|title=Nowhere else do you have politicians clinging to top positions for decades like they do here: Ayaz Amir|first=Adnan|last=Rehmat|date=December 4, 2017|website=Herald Magazine}}</ref>

In 1981, he was imprisoned again for five months.<ref name="auto"/>

==Political career==
Ayaz Amir has been a part of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the PML-N. He left the PPP while it was in power in the late 80's and joined the PML (N) when it was in opposition in the early 2000.<ref name="auto" /> He was elected to the [[Provincial Assembly of the Punjab]] from [[Chakwal]] constituency in [[1990 Pakistani general election|1997 Pakistani general election]] as a candidate of [[Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)]] PML-N. He left the PML-N for brief time in 1998. He rejoined the party in 2002 and was active in a struggle to restore democracy back to country.

He was elected to the [[National Assembly of Pakistan]] from [[Constituency NA-60]] [[Chakwal]] constituency as a candidate of PML-N in [[2008 Pakistani general election]]. In 2013, he left PML-N. In recent years, Ayaz has openly expressed his disillusionment with politics and believes that the political aspect of his life is now over. <ref name="auto" />

==Journalism career==

Ayaz Amir started his career as a columnist for Dawn. His columns were initially known for being critical of the Pakistan Army’s role in politics; he has taken a softer approach in recent times proclaiming the Army of today to be a battle hardened and resilient Army and not the chocolate Army of yesteryears. He identifies himself as a liberal and is against extremist versions of Islam. He later wrote a column for The News International for many years before he developed differences with them and turned to writing his column in Urdu. <ref name="auto" />

Ayaz Amir has himself served in Pakistan Army as a Captain for a brief period before rendering his resignation and joining the Foreign Office. He has also hosted a talk show ''Counterpoint'' on ARY One World television. He currently appears as an analyst on Pakistani TV channel Duniya TVs current affairs show called Think Tank.

== Incident ==
On 1 July 2022, Amir was leaving the office of a private TV channel called [[Dunya News]] located at [[Lahore]]’s Abbott Road when unidentified men attacked him. The assailants also snatched his wallet and mobile phone. As soon as the incident was reported, a [[Punjab Police (Pakistan)|Punjab Police]] spokesperson said that the inspector-general has summoned a report of the incident from the capital city police officer. The IG directed the CCPO to utilise the safe city cameras to identify the culprits and ensure their arrest. Prime Minister [[Shehbaz Sharif]] also condemned the incident and ordered Punjab Chief Minister [[Hamza Shahbaz]] to hold a high-level investigation.

“Suspects should be brought before the law as soon as possible. Journalism and protection of journalists should be ensured,” said PM [[Shehbaz Sharif]].

PTI Chairman [[Imran Khan]] also condemned the attack in "strongest terms" in a statement released on [[Twitter]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Senior journalist Ayaz Amir attacked by unidentified men in Lahore |url=https://www.geo.tv/latest/425600-senior-journalist-ayaz-amir-attacked-by-unidentified-men-in-lahore |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=www.geo.tv |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 July 2022 |title=Senior journalist Ayaz Amir 'attacked' in Lahore |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/2364215/senior-journalist-ayaz-amir-attacked-in-lahore |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=The Express Tribune |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Senior analyst Ayaz Amir assaulted in Lahore |url=https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/658290-Senior-analyst-Ayaz-Amir-assaulted-in-Lahore |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=Dunya News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Desk |first=Web |date=1 July 2022 |title=Journalist Ayaz Amir attacked by unidentified assailants in Lahore |url=https://arynews.tv/journalist-ayaz-amir-attacked-by-unidentified-assailants-in-lahore/ |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=ARY NEWS |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Unidentified men attack senior journalist Ayaz Amir in Lahore |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/970673-unidentified-men-attack-senior-journalist-ayaz-amir-in-lahore |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=www.thenews.com.pk |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|41em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.thenews.com.pk/writer/ayaz-amir Archive of Ayaz Amir Columns in ''The News'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070826163620/http://www.ibitians.com/category/columns/ayaz-amir/ Ayaz Amir Columns at IBITIANS.com (Urdu)]
*[http://www.dawn.com/authors/2265 Archive of Ayaz Amir Columns in ''Dawn'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111019200248/http://www2.ecp.gov.pk/vsite/complete/Search.aspx?constituency=NA&constituencyid=NA-60 Election Result of 2008]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Amir, Ayaz}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013]]
[[Category:Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNAs]]
[[Category:Pakistani male journalists]]
[[Category:Pakistani columnists]]
[[Category:People from Chakwal District]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Punjab MPAs 1990–1993]]
[[Category:Lawrence College Ghora Gali alumni]]
[[Category:Pakistan Army officers]]
[[Category:Pakistan Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Pakistani prisoners and detainees]]

Ayaz Amir - Revision history

UpdateBot at 00:59, 2 July 2022