Born in Jalandhar, he completed his education at Punjab University. Afterwards, he began working in the financial sector of Indian government, and was also one of the highest ranking Muslim civil servants in the British Raj.
Upon the formation of Pakistan, Ali was made the Secretary General of the new nation and was instrumental to setting up a budget for the fledgling nation. In 1951 he was promoted to Finance Minister.
Four years later, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali was made Prime Minister by Governor General of PakistanIskander Mirza in 1955, after the removal of Muhammad Ali Bogra. While Prime Minister, Ali's greatest achievement was the formation of a new constitution for Pakistan, one that made it a republic in 1956. The constitution was extremely popular across Pakistan, and intended to mix democracy and Islam.
Despite this success, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali failed at healing rifts within his political party, the Muslim League. Splits within the party led to the formation of a new party, the Republican party. The new party claimed to hold the majority of seats in the National Assembly, while the Muslim League contested this and tried to have Ali check the Republican Party. Despite the demands of his own party, Ali would refuse claiming that as Prime Minister, the interests of the nation, and not of his party were primary to him. As the situation deteriorated, he resigned from both the position of Prime Minister, and from the Muslim League.
The secular policies of the past were replaced by Zia's introduction of the Islamic Shariat legal code, and increased religious influences on the civil service and the military.
Muhammad Khan Junejo was elected in 1985 as Prime Minister, but with the death of General Zia in a plane crash in 1988, Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has rekindled Pashto and Persian music and established Peshawar as a hub for Afghan musicians and a distribution centre for Afghan music abroad.
On October 7th 1958 Pakistan’s civilian and first President Iskander Mirza in collaboration with General Mohammad Ayub Khan abrogated Pakistan’s constitution and instated the state of Martial Law an act which is attributed as high treason and is punishable by death under the Constitution of Pakistan.
General Zia was killed in a plane crash in 1988, after which Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain became interim PM, and was succeeded by Finance Minister and former Citibank Vice President Shaukat Aziz, who was elected Prime Minister on August 27, 2004 by a National Assembly vote of 191 to 151.
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