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Zaka Ashraf belongs to a traditional industrial
and farming family of Punjab. After passing out
from Petaro, he took his bachelor's degree, and
then joined his father in his business.
He has had an illustrious career in business ever
since. Over the years, he has become the Chairman
of the Ashraf Group of Industries that had been
established by his father. These include the
Ashraf Sugar Mills in Bahawalpur.
In addition, he has also managed the family farms
in Punjab and in the Sindh area.
Over the past several years, Zaka Ashraf was also
elected as the Chairman of the Pakistan Sugar
Mills Association. In this capacity, he has done a
lot of work to promote the production and use of
Ethanol from the molasses produced in the sugar
industry. He has been instrumental in developing a
policy for the country to blend ethanol with
petrol to reduce harmful emissions into the
environment and to take the country one more step
towards using indigenous fuels.
In 2008, Zaka Ashraf was appointed as the
President of the Zarai Taraqqiati Bank Ltd (ZTBL).
The bank had been plundered in the past by
different interest groups in the country and left
it with huge losses and bad debts. It is a
monumental task for him to bring the bank into a
viable position. This bank is a very important
component of our agrarian economy.
Zaka Ashraf has been associated with the Pakistan
People's Party since its inception in the late
1960's. He was a keen member of the party from the
time of the late Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto.
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