[4] Asif was born on 9 August 1949[5] in Sialkot, Punjab,[6][7] to Khawaja Muhammad Safdar, an influential politician.

[8][9] He belongs to a Punjabi family of Kashmiri ancestry, whose ancestors settled in the Punjab generations ago from the Kashmir Valley.

[17] Asif began his political career in 1991[5] on returning to Pakistan following the death of his father after living in the United Arab Emirates for many years.

He was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PML-N from constituency NA-71 Sialkot-II in 2024 Pakistani general election, he received 119,001 and defeated Independent Candidate Rehana Imtiaz Dar, who is mother of Asif's former election rival Usman Dar, She received 100,482 votes.

[25] He was appointed as the chairman of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan with the status of a minister during Second Nawaz Sharif ministry in 1997.

[27][28] He had ceased to hold ministerial office in July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Panama Papers case decision.

[32] The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took Asif into its custody on corruption charges after the military takeover but later, he was released.

[34] Asif's victory was challenged in 2013 elections by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleging he had received fake votes.

[35] On 26 April 2018, he was disqualified from holding a public office for life by the Islamabad High Court over possessing a UAE work permit.

In July 2023 his labelling of female opposition leaders in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party as "trash and leftovers" led to a widespread criticism of his misogyny.