ISLAMABAD: Former president and chief of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Asif Ali Zardarihasappointedformer federal minister and MNA Syed Naveed Qamar as parliamentary leader of his party in the National Assembly with immediate ef fect.

A notification on the matter has been issued by Rukhsana Bangash, the political secretary to the president of the PPPP. The position had been vacant for over eight months after the death of Makhdoom Amin Fahim on November 21 last year.

Mr Qamar is a member of the central executive committee of the party. In the previous PPP-led governments he held different ministerial portfolios, including that of defence, water and power and privatisation.

He began his political career by contesting general elections in 1988 on a PPP ticket. After winning the polls, he was appointed provincial minister for information.