Introduction: Babar Awan is the member of the upper house of parliament and a former federal law minister. A politician; relatively young, he is a member of Pakistan Peoples Party central executive committee and amongst a few of President Zardari’s kitchen-cabinet.

Biography: Dr. Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan was born on January 27, 1957 in Hothla; a village near Kahuta, Rawalpindi. He belongs to the Awan tribe with a strong political stand in that region.

Born in a middle-class family, he has spent some time in the Middle East and is a fluent Arabic-speaker with a firm base in matters of Islamic jurisprudence. Also having a good command over both Urdu and English languages, Awan is perhaps the best orator in the PPP top brass.

He is a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court and is considered to be an expert in criminal law. His firm; Babar Awan Law Company specialises in politically-motivated corruption cases as well as corporate and financial cases.

Political Career: Babar Awan was an active reformer throughout his academic life. He was the activist with Islami Jamiat Talba and Pakistan Muslim League. He also served as the president of his college.

He joined the Pakistan Peoples Party in 1996. His first mainstream political endeavor came right after Benazir Bhutto’s second government toppled. Nawaz Sharif indicted countless PPP’s senators on charges of corruption and money laundering and most of them contacted Babar Awan to serve as their advocate. It was a tough time for PPP and many lawyers refrained from having any contact with the indicted politicians.

During President Musharraf’s regime,the  National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took over and ensured further cleansing of the corruption prevalent wide across the political board. Over a period of time, Musharraf indicted many politicians who refused to concur with his ideologies and cooperate. The list kept increasing by the day, and included people of the likes of Asif Ali Zardari, Salman Farooqui, Manzoor Wattoo, so on and so forth. All the aforementioned and many other senators utilized  Awan’s talents to the fullest and chose him as their respective lawyer.

After remaining unsuccessful twice, Awan was elected unopposed as the member of senate in March 2006. Prior to being elected, he also served Benazir Bhutto as her speech writer and finance secretary.

Awan assumed his post as a federal law minister in November 2008 from which he resigned in April 2011 in order to appear before the court in the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto reference case.

He has proved to be a bitter rival of PML-N and has often expressed his views against them in public speeches. Currently, he is a top advisor to the ruling government, hence a major political figure of the country.

Controversies: Babar Awan has been part of controversies throughout his career. He is allegedly accused of accepting a bribe in Haris Steel Mills case. He is also charged with holding a fake doctorate degree. However, no charges stand proved against him, till date.