Lieutenant General (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi was born in 4 September, 1941.He joined the Pakistan Army in 1962 after graduating from Cadet College Hasan Abdal. During his army career, Qazi headed the Military Intelligence from 1990 to 1991 under General Mirza Aslam Baig. Promoted to Lieutenant General in 1991, Qazi served as Master General of Ordnance (MGO) from 1991 to 1992 and than GD of Inter-Services Intelligence from 1993 to 1995 by General Abdul Waheed Kakar. Qazi left the post in 1995 to assume the command of XXX Corps at Gujranwala. Qazi retired from the army in February 1996 thus relieving the corps. He was awarded with Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) upon Meritorious services for the Nation and Sitara-e-Basalat (2 times) for display of exceptional leadership and velour during peace time.

Javed Ashraf Qazi started his political career after taking over as the Secretary of Science and Technology Division in 1996. He continued this post under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif till 1997. He was later inducted as the Secretary of Railways in 1999, which he continued till 2000. Then he became the Minister of Communications and Railways in addition to Housing and Works from 2000 to 2002. He successfully fought the Senate seat in 2003, and became a senator on Pakistan Muslim League (Q) seat. The government later inducted him as Minister of Education in 2004 replacing Zubaida Jalal. His three-year stint ended in 2007, when the 5-year mandate for PML-Q government ended.