Muhammad Zubair Umar

Mohammad Zubair Umar
Mohammad Zubair Umar
	Umar in 2017
29th Governor of Sindh
	In office; 2 February 2017 – 3 August 2018
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Preceded by	Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui; Agha Siraj Durrani (Acting)
Succeeded by	Imran Ismail; Agha Siraj Durrani (Acting)
Chairman Privatization Commission of Pakistan (Minister of State)
	In office; 18 December 2013 – 2 February 2017
Chairman Board of Investment
	In office; 12 July 2013 – 17 December 2013
Personal details
Political party	Pakistan Muslim League (N) (2012-2024)
Relatives	Asad Umar (brother)
Education	MBA
Alma mater	Institute of Business Administration

Mohammad Zubair Umar (Urdu: محمد زبیر عمر) is a Pakistani politician who served as 32nd Governor of Sindh from February 2017 to August 2018. Once a prominent leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), he served as the Chairman of Privatisation Commission of Pakistan with the status of State Minister from 2013 to 2017. Currently he serves as Chief Spokesperson to Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Safdar.^[1]

Early life and education

Umar was born in Rawalpindi to Ghulam Umar.^[2] Umar was raised in Rawalpindi then moved to Karachi for higher education, he belongs to a Punjabi community.^[3] Zubair is elder brother to Mr. Asad Umar who was a prominent leader of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.^[2]

He received his master's degree in business administration from Institute of Business Administration (IBA)^[4] in 1981.^[5] At IBA, he became the member of the Board of Directors in 1980 and taught Financial Management from 1981 to 1986.^[4] After completing his MBA, he joined IBM from 1981 until his resignation in 2007.^[5]^[6]

Zubair Umar's father, Major General (retd) Ghulam Umar, was an army officer who was considered a close aide and served as first Advisor of National Security Council (NSC) created by the government of President Yahya Khan.^[7]

Career

Prior to joining politics, Umar hosted TV shows.^[8]

After joining PML-N in 2012, he became part of the PML-N's Economic, Tax Reforms Media Committees.^[5]^[8]

Umar was chairman of the Pakistan Board of Investment from 12 July 2013 to 17 December 2013.^[4]

He served as Chairman of Privatisation Commission of Pakistan with the status of minister of state from December 2013 until February 2017.^[9]^[4]^[6]

In January 2017, he was appointed as the 32nd Governor of Sindh.^[10]^[4]^[11] He took the oath of office in February 2017.^[12]

Following the 2018 Pakistani general election, he resigned from the office of Sindh Governor on 28 July 2018.^[13] His resignation was accepted on 3 August 2018.^[14]

He left the PML(N) on 9 June 2024. He explained that "the differences were too vast", citing examples such as the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, the performance of the first Shehbaz Sharif ministry, and the 2024 Pakistani general election.^[15]

Leaked sextape

On 26 September 2021 sexually explicit videos were posted online by anonymous sources that allegedly show Umar with at least one unidentified woman in one of Islamabad's rest houses. The other woman was speculated to be Gharida Farooqi since the woman in the video was also wearing the same pajamas as Gharidah did on her live TV show.^[16] Umar and his party (PMLN) leaders claimed the videos were doctored and fake, however, neither he or his party bothered to approach the courts against the videos, hence raising doubts on their own claims.^[17]^[18]