Shahbaz Gill

Muhammad Shahbaz Shabbir Gill (Urdu: محمد شہبازشبیرگل), commonly known as Shahbaz Gill (Urdu: شہباز گل), is a Pakistani academic, lecturer, politician, former provincial spokesperson to the Government of Punjab, Pakistan, and former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) of Pakistan to Imran Khan. He was a member of the Imran Khan cabinet from 13 May to 3 April 2022. Currently he is the Chief of Staff of former Prime Minister Imran Khan following Khan's removal from office in April 2022.

Early life and education

Gill was born into a Punjabi Jat family in Faisalabad and received his early education there. He then pursued higher education abroad. He received a Ph.D. in Management and Leadership from the University of Malaya in 2008. He started his teaching career in 2004 and has been a part of the faculty of Quaid-i-Azam University and International Islamic University, Islamabad, before finally moving to COMSATS University, Lahore. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Business Administration.

Career

Gill has been an assistant professor of business administration at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2019.

Gill was appointed as a spokesperson for the Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan, Usman Buzdar in 2018. In March 2019, Buzdar appointed him to inspect the government institutions and offices on his behalf. He resigned from the post of spokesperson on 13 September 2019.

Arrest

On 9 August 2022, Gill was arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly trying to incite Pakistani army officers to mutiny. Gill was reportedly "dragged out of his vehicle" before being taken into custody. Gill was arrested for statements he made on ARY News on 8 August about alleged rifts within Pakistan's military over Imran Khan's ouster from office during the no-confidence motion in April 2022.

Gill testified in court that he had been on a hunger strike for four days and was not allowed to change his clothes and take a bath. Shahbaz's request for judicial remand was denied and police granted his requested two-day physical remand. While in custody, he and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, claimed that he was sexually assaulted. However, in a written statement submitted before the court, Gill stated that he hadn't been sexually assaulted by the police while in detention, though he still said that he was subjected to torture by investigators. Lawyers for Gill submitted a medical report by doctors of Central Jail Rawalpindi in which they declared that Gill was tortured.

On 15 September 2022, Gill was released from Central Jail Rawalpindi on bail.

Selected publications

Some of the publications he authored or co-authored include:

• Ur Rehman, A., & Gill, S. (2010). The relationship between religiosity and new product adoption. Journal of Islamic Marketing, 1 (1), 63-69.
• Shahbaz, M., & Gill, S. (2012). Military Spending and Economic Growth in Pakistan: New Evidence from Rolling Window Approach. Economic Research, 25 144-159.
• Shahbaz, M., Afza, T., & Gill, S. (2012). Does Defence Spending Impede Economic Growth? Cointegration and Causality Analysis for Pakistan. Defense and Peace Economics, 24 (2), 105-120.
• Shahbaz, M., Sherafatian-Jahromi, R., Malikk, M., & Gill, S. (2015). Linkages between Defense Spending and Income Inequality in Iran Quality & Quantity, Springer, 50 1317–1332.
• Shahbaz, M., Gill, S., & Butt, M. (2016). Does Military Spending Explode External Debt in Pakistan? Defense and Peace Economics, 718-741.

• Shahbaz, M., Gill, S., Malik, M., & Wolters, M. (2013). Does Terrorism Impede Private Investment in Pakistan. 17th Annual Western Hemisphere Trade Conference: Western Hemisphere Meets Eastern Hemisphere: Trade.
• Gill, S. (2017). Do Online Learning Platforms Truly Provide Convenience and Flexibility? The Munich International Academic Conference on Education & Social Sciences.

• Wang, W., & Gill, S. Trust as a Mediator for the Effect of Organizational Justice: What do the Multifoci and Cultural Approaches.