Akhtar Ali Vario


Chaudhry Akhtar Ali Vario was born in District Gurdaspur in 1933. He belongs to a Gujjar family. His father Chaudhry Ghulam Ahmad Zaildar was a prominent personality of his area who migrated to Pakistan with his family in 1947. Ch. Akhtar Ali is famous Pakistani politician and head of the Vario family of Sialkot District, Punjab province. He remained Provincial Minister, Chairman District Council Sialkot, Member of National Assembly, Member Provincial Assembly of Punjab several times.

Political career

Vario served as chairman and member of Sialkot district council between 1979-1985 and was elected as a Member of the Provincial Assembly from PP-143 Sialkot in the 1985 elections. He was re-elected in 1988 as a representative of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad from PP-104 Sialkot and was given portfolio of Minister of Communication and Works by the Chief Minister, Nawaz Sharif. He was elected for a third consecutive term in the 1990 elections from PP-106 Sialkot.
Ch. Akhtar Ali contested for a seat in the National Assembly of Pakistan in the 1993 elections. He was elected as Member of the National Assembly from NA-86 Sialkot by defeating Ch. Ameer Hussain, a former Speaker of the National Assembly, from Pakistan Muslim League. His brother, Chaudhry Abdul Sattar Vario, won for 3rd term as MNA from NA-88 in the same elections and became Federal Minister.
In the same polls his son, Ch. Khush Akhtar Subhani, became MPA from PP-104 and was awarded the ministries of Population Welfare and Prisons, Housing & Physical Planning and Environmental Planning in Watto's ministry. His brother was made Federal Minister of Science and Technology, and his nephew, Armughan Subhani, a son of Ch. Abdul Sattar, was also elected MPA from PP-106.
He later joined PML-Q and played important role in the successes of their candidates in the 2001 LB polls, in which they gained 61 UC Nazim slots from a possible 124 seats.

Imprisonment

He was imprisoned during 2002-2003 by the National Accountability Bureau, who accused him of corruption charges, but was acquitted by Lahore High Court, which deemed the case against him not to be strong enough.

Death

Ch. Akhtar Ali died at the age of 76, in Services Institute of Medical Sciences on 16 June 2008 after being in a coma for five days. He had suffered from diabetes and heart disease. He was buried on 17 June in village of Vario Sialkot.