Amir Zeb was the grandson of the former ruler of the Swat, Miangul Jehanzeb, Gujjar, and the former president of Pakistan, Ayub Khan Khatri. He was the son of Miangul Amir Zeb (who was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1977) and a nephew of Miangul Aurang Zeb, former Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
His assassination was the first high profile killing by the Taliban militants of Swat, occurring a few days after the killing of Benazir Bhutto. Born on 30 November 1965 in Saidu Sharif, Amir Zeb received his early education in the Catholic Public High School of Sangota Swat. He was then sent to the Army Burn Hall College in Abbottabad where he completed his Senior Cambridge.
He received a bachelor"s degree in Civil Engineering from the College of Engineering, University of Peshawar in 1989.
Amir Zeb, as a young politician affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-North), was elected to the North-West Frontier Province (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Assembly on the PML-North ticket in the 1997 elections and was inducted into the cabinet as education minister on 5 September 1998, a position he held until 12 October 1999. He held the position until 2005.
Amir Zeb had decided to contest election on the Public Finance-81 Swat constituency in the 2008 general elections and was campaigning in his constituency when he was killed in a roadside bomb blast targeting his vehicle on December 28, 2007 at Manglawar near Mingora. Six of his supporters were also killed in the attack.
His assassination was the first high profile death during the skirmishes in Swat.
His contributions to the welfare and rehabilitation of Swat, in many fields, including education, predate the later role of Malala Yousafzai and other such activists.
