Zaeem Qadri, a Pakistani politician who served as a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab and a key provincial minister, died Feb. 13, 2026, from a heart ailment. He was 61.
Born in Lahore, Qadri came from a prominent legal and political family. He earned a law degree from Quaid-e-Azam Law College in 1988 and later completed a Master of Business Administration in 1991. During his ten-year tenure in the provincial assembly, he gained a reputation as an effective communicator while serving as a spokesperson for the Punjab government and an adviser to the chief minister.
Qadri first entered the Punjab assembly in 2008 after winning a by-election in the PP-154 constituency. He secured a second term in the 2013 general election. During this period, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed him as the provincial minister for Auqaf and religious affairs in 2016. Earlier in his career, he faced imprisonment in 2006 for participating in public protests regarding international religious controversies.
After a decade with the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Qadri resigned from the party in 2018 to contest elections as an independent candidate. He maintained his involvement in Pakistani political affairs until the end of his life. He is survived by his wife, Uzma Qadri.