Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin

Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin (Urdu شہزادہ افتخار الدین) is a Pakistani Politician and the current Member of the National Assembly for Chitral. He is the eldest son of Shahzada Mohiuddin, a former federal minister and Member of the National Assembly.

Iftikhar Uddin was born on 15 August 1969 into the ruling family of Chitral. He is the great-grandson of His Highness Sir Shuja Ul Mulk, the Mehtar of Chitral. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the State University of New York, Binghamton, United States, and his MBA in International Business from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Iftikhar specializes in economic growth, value chain project management, and workforce and private sector development. He has worked as value chain and program director in major USAID-funded projects, in a professional career spanning 14 years. The US-based organizations he has been affiliated with include Abt Associates, JE Austin Associates, and Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA), as well as Canada-based Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). He has worked with the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme. He has undertaken consultancy work with United States-based ShoreBank International (SBI), on studies mandated by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Iftikhar enterend politics full-time after his father retired from active political life. His father had represented the Chitral constituency four times and had remained a strong political force in the district. Iftikhar was the runner-up for the National Assembly seat in the 2002 elections. The loss came in spite of the fact that months earlier his father had been elected as the district Nazim, but owing to 9/11 and anti-American feelings the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal came to power throughout NWFP. Iftikhar served as the covering candidate for General Pervez Musharraf in the 2013 elections. Musharraf was eventually not allowed to contest elections and was detained in his Chak Shahzad farmhouse on charges of conspiracy to murder two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, violating the Constitution of Pakistan, and imposing martial law and a state of emergency on the country. Iftikhar won the National Assembly seat despite APMLs boycott. He is a member of the National Assembly standing committees on Industries and Production, and Planning and Development. The 11 May 2013 elections marked the first transition between two democratically elected governments in the 65-year history of Pakistan.