Sheikh Rasheed is one of the most popular politicians in Pakistan, which is not something said often about politicians in this country who are generally scorned by the public. Sheikh Rasheed is the leader of his own party, the Awami Muslim League and is well loved in his constituency of Rawalpindi. Sheikh Rasheed is quite active in the social media and can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/ShkhRasheed or on his party’s website aml.org.pk.
Sheikh Rasheed started out as a right hand man of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and served in his cabinet. However he resigned and joined PML-Q after the 2002 elections. He served as Minister of Locomotives and Railways and the Minister of Information and Mass-media Broadcasting during the party’s rule from 2002 to 2007. He formed his own party after losing elections of 2008 from his constituencies of NA 55 and NA 56.
His party made seat adjustment with Imran Khan’s PTI during the 2013 elections and managed to win his traditional seat of Rawalpindi despite it being considered a hub of PML-N who sweeped the province. Sheikh Rasheed is popular for his blunt style of speaking and his brutal honesty. He is also regularly called to be a guest on political talk shows because of this.