Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari

He was born on 9 June 1963 in Dera Ghazi Khan.[1][2]

After his early education from Aitchison College, he attended University of Oklahoma, he got Certification in Global Financial Markets from FINSIA, he also has a Post graduate Diploma in Applied Economics from the University of the Punjab.[1] He is an alumnus of National Defence University, Pakistan and International Academy for Leadership (IAF) of Friedrich Naumann Foundation, in Gummersbach (Germany) He worked with representatives of multinational companies like Compaq and ComputerLand before working with the leading newswire Reuters providing technical and product support for Reuters Financial Market Data Terminals for over a decade before contesting the elections in January 2003.[3]

He was elected for the first time to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as a candidate of National Alliance from Constituency PP-245 (Dera Ghazi Khan-VI) in bye-elections held in 2003.[2] He was re-elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League (Q) from Constituency PP-245 (Dera Ghazi Khan-VI) in 2008 Pakistani general election.[4]

In 2012, he resigned from his seat in the Punjab Assembly.[5] after he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan as the only independent candidate in 2012 Pakistani Senate election.[6][7][8] His election as an Independent Candidate was unprecedented in Punjab Senate Elections.[9][10] Not having official nomination from any political party, he relied on his good will and reputation as a credible parliamentarian to secure a place in the Senate. His contribution was always well researched,[11] punctuated with facts and references to literature[12] and parliamentary practices from across the world.[13] The Senate membership term ended in March 2018.[14]

He was re-elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab for the third time as a candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from Constituency PP-293 (Rajanpur-I) in 2018 Pakistani general election.[15]

He has been an active advocate of the South Punjab cause since his early days in the Punjab Assembly[16][17][18] and also in the Senate.[19][20] He had been raising the issue in his earlier tenures[21] and Immediately after taking oath on 15 August 2018, he submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly demanding the initiation of the process for the creation of Southern Punjab as a separate province.[22]

On 27 August 2018, he was inducted into the provincial Punjab cabinet of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and was appointed as Minister for Irrigation.[23]

Mr. Leghari has been a strong advocate for the water issue and trying to raise awareness of the imminent water crisis Pakistan is facing.[24] From his earlier days in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab or in the Senate of Pakistan, he has been a strong voice on water issues.[25] He has represented Pakistan at World Water Forum and the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference. He has been instrumental in raising awareness about unfettered groundwater exploitation and counts promulgation of Punjab's first-ever Water Act.[26] as a milestone in addressing a fundamental issue that had been ignored since decades. Soon after taking office as Minister for Irrigation, Leghari launched a major campaign to root out the persistent problem of water theft in the province. The campaign was widely hailed successful as a large number of water theft cases were reported to the police and canals located at the tail-end of the irrigation system in the south-Punjab started receiving irrigation supplies after several years.[27]