Biographies of main political leaders of Pakistan INCUMBENT POLITICAL LEADERS ASIF ALI ZARDARI President of Pakistan since 2008 Asif Ali Zardari is the eleventh and current President of Pakistan. He is the Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a role he took on following the demise of his wife, Benazir Bhutto. Zardari rose to prominence in 1987 after his marriage to Benazir Bhutto, holding cabinet positions in both the 1990s PPP governments, and quickly acquired a reputation for corrupt practices. He was arrested in 1996 after the dismissal of the second government of Benazir Bhutto, and remained incarcerated for eight years on various charges of corruption. Released in 2004 amid rumours of reconciliation between Pervez Musharraf and the PPP, Zardari went into self-imposed exile in Dubai. He returned in December 2007 following Bhutto s assassination. In 2008, as Co-Chairman of PPP he led his party to victory in the general elections. He was elected as President on September 6, 2008, following the resignation of Pervez Musharraf. His early years in power were characterised by widespread unrest due to his perceived reluctance to reinstate the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (who had been dismissed during the Musharraf imposed emergency of 2007). However, he has also overseen the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution which effectively reduced presidential powers to that of a ceremonial figurehead. He remains, however, a highly controversial figure and continues to be dogged by allegations of corruption. Complete version of the Biography of Asif Ali Zardari at CIDOB s website: http://www.cidob.org/es/ documentacion/biografias_lideres_politicos/(filtro)/ pais/(pais)/1133 YOUSAF RAZA GILANI Prime Minister of Pakistan since 2008 Yousaf Raza Gilani is the current Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was nominated as Prime Minister by the PPP, with the support of its coalition partners in March 2008. Gilani belongs to a family of politicians and Shiite religious of the district of Multan, in Punjab province. Graduated in journalism from the University of Punjab, in 1976 he began his political career in the Pakistan Muslim League (PML). In 1983 he gained his first elected position as president of Multan District and in 1985 he won a seat as an independent in the National Assembly, joining the Khan Junejo Asif Ali Zardari, President Mohmmad government as Minister of Housing and Public Works. In 1988 changed political party and joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), with whom he entered the government of Benazir Bhutto as federal minister of Tourism, to spend a year later to reoccupy the portfolio of Housing and Public Works. In 1993 he was sworn in as President of the National Assembly after the election victory of PPP. His leading as main political opposition to the military regime of President Musharraf cost him five years in prison on charges of corruption, between 2001 and 2006. So far, Gilani is the longest serving Prime Minister of Pakistan, with 45 months in power. The challenges facing Gilani are ending Islamist terrorism and tribal insurgency. Complete version of the Biography of Yousaf Raza Gilani at CIDOB s website: http://www.cidob.org/es/ documentacion/biografias_lideres_politicos/(filtro)/ pais/(pais)/1133 www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk 1
CIDOB International Yearbook 2012 Pakistan: Country Profile CHAUDHRY AHMED MUKHTAR Minister of Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, a prominent businessman, joined the PPP in 1990, and immediately made a mark by defeating a Muslim League stalwart, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, in the general election of 1993. His early electoral success against an established political family hastened his rise in the party hierarchy, and he was made Minister for Commerce, a position at which he served for three years from 1993 to 1996. He did not win a seat in the elections of 1997, but served as Secretary General of the PPP from 1997 to 1999. In 2002, during the Musharraf government, he was arrested on charges of corruption (pertaining to his tenure as Commerce Minister) and spent a year in jail before being acquitted. He again defeated Chaudhry Shujaat of the Muslim League to win a seat in the National Assembly in the elections of 2008, and was one of the contenders for the slot of Prime Minister in the new PPP-led coalition. Although he was not made the Prime Minister, he was compensated with the important portfolio of Defense. He has recently spoken out publicly for the restoration of NATO supply routes through Pakistan, provided NATO agrees to more favorable terms of compensation for use of the routes. HINA RABBANI KHAR Minister Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar belongs to a prominent feudal family of southern Punjab. Her uncle was the Governor of the Punjab in the early 1970s, and was a prominent PPP leader. Other members of the family have also been active in politics. Ms. Khar was thrown into politics in 2002, when a new law came into effect, which stipulated that parliamentarians must have college degrees. Since her landlord father did not have the requisite academic qualifications, he asked his daughter, a graduate of the Lahore University of Management Sciences and Amherst College in the US, to fight the election in his stead. With minimal campaigning and no public appearances (in deference to the cultural traditions of the area), she was elected as a member of the National Assembly on a PML(Q) ticket. She served as State Minister for Economic Affairs in the cabinet of Shaukat Aziz from 2004 to 2007. Ms. Khar was refused a ticket for the elections of 2008 by PML(Q), and decided to join the PPP and fight the election on a PPP ticket. She was elected on a general seat, and was appointed State Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, a position in which she served for three years from 2008 to 2011. During her tenure, she became the first woman to present the federal budget in the National Assembly, as the post of Minister for Finance had always previously been held by men. In 2011, upon the resignation of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, she was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. She made an important official visit to India in July 2011, and appeared to have set in motion a thawing of relations, which had been cold since the Mumbai attacks of November 2008. Yousaf Raza Gilani, Prime Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister of Defence Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister Foreign Affairs www.pakistan.gov.pk www.mod.gov.pk www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum 2
OTHER POLITICAL LEADERS IMRAN KHAN Chairman of the Movement for Justice (PTI) Imran Khan is a former cricketer turned politician, and the Chairman of the political party Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) (Urdu: Movement for Justice ). With a degree in Politics and Economics from Oxford, Khan is known for a career in international cricket, eventually becoming the captain of the national team, and leading Pakistan to its only Cricket World Cup win in 1992. After retirement from his sporting career, he turned to politics, and established PTI in 1997. Although initially supporting General Musharraf s military coup in 1999, he became a strong critic of the administration, and was put under house arrest in 2007 after Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. In the elections of 2002, PTI had one seat in the National Assembly. The party did not contest the 2008 polls on the grounds that polls held under the overview of General Musharraf s government would not be fair. Post 2008, the party s popularity has gained momentum, with Khan leading the criticism of the current government s performance. Khan is also an active philanthropist, having established the first ever Cancer Hospital in Pakistan in 1994. He is also the Chancellor of the University of Bradford, and has established a college off in his hometown of Mianwali. ALTAF HUSSAIN Leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain was born in a lower-middle-income household in Karachi in 1953. His parents had migrated from the Indian city of Agra to Karachi upon partition of the sub-continent, and were thus part of the Mohajir or migrant community. Hussain became prominent in student politics from a relatively young age. He formed the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organization (APMSO) in Karachi University in 1978. Hussain then formed the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1984, which claimed to be the only political party speaking for the rights of the Mohajir community, centered mainly in Sindh s major cities of Karachi and Hyderabad. The MQM fought the general elections of 1988 and emerged as the third largest party in the National Assembly. Since then, the party has consistently swept both national and provincial assembly polls in Karachi, and also showed a substantial presence in Hyderabad. The MQM became the victim of factional infighting in the mid 1990s, after Altaf Hussain announced that the party would no longer represent the Mohajirs alone, but would work on a national platform, and would henceforth be known as the Muttahida (or United) Qaumi Movement. The two main factions of the party (known as the Muttahida group and the Haqiqi (or Real) group respectively) fought a vicious turf war in Karachi, and several leaders and workers of both factions were killed and injured. In December 1991, Hussain escaped an assassination attempt. Subsequently, a murder charge was registered against him, but he left the country clandestinely, surfacing first in Saudi Arabia in January 1992, and then arriving in London later the same month. He requested political asylum from the Government of the UK and was granted the same, eventually becoming a British citizen in 2002. Hussain has been based in London since January 1992, and has never returned to Pakistan. Nevertheless, he retains strong control of his party, and directs all its operations from his base in the UK. Imran Khan, Movement for Justice Altaf Hussain, Muttahida Qaumi Movement www.paklinks.com www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum Biographies of main political leaders of Pakistan 3
CIDOB International Yearbook 2012 Pakistan: Country Profile www.facebook.com/anpmarkaz Asfandyar Wali Khan, Awami National Party ASFANDYAR WALI KHAN President, Awami National Party (ANP) Asfandyar Wali Khan belongs to a prominent political family of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. His grandfather, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, was a member of the Congress Party in undivided India, and founded the non-violent Pashtun political movement, Khudai Khidmatgar ("Servants of God") in emulation of Mahatma Gandhi. Asfandyar Wali stayed away from politics for much of his youth, as his father, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, remained a leader of the ANP and a prominent opposition leader. He was first elected to the National Assembly in 1993, and became President of his party in 1999. He was defeated in the elections of 2002, but returned to Parliament as a Senator in 2003. He gave up his seat in the Senate when he was once again elected to the National Assembly in 2008. He has been at the vanguard of the political struggle of the Pakhtuns against the Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and his party has lost many people to terrorist attacks. SYED MUNAWAR HASAN Ameer (Leader) of the Jamaat e Islami (JI) Syed Munawar Hasan was born in Delhi in 1944, and later settled in Karachi when his family moved to Pakistan after partition. He became active in student politics in Karachi University in the early 1960s, but was initially a member of the left-wing National Students Federation. He joined the Islami Jamiat e Tulaba or the student wing of the Jamaat e Islami in 1964, and later joined the Jamaat in 1967. He worked as a journalist and a researcher in Karachi, and steadily rose through the ranks of the party. He was elected as Ameer of the Jamaat in March 2009, and is serving a five-year term. Syed Munawar Hasan, Jemaah Islamiya Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Jamiat e Ulema e Islam MAULANA FAZLUR RAHMAN Leader of the Jamiat e Ulema e Islam (JUI) Maulana Fazlur Rahman succeeded his father, Mufti Mahmud as leader of the JUI. Mufti Mahmud had earlier been a Chief Minister of the then Frontier province in the early 1970s, and was prominent for his opposition to the first PPP government. Maulana Fazlur Rahman has been elected to parliament in two of the last four elections, and was the Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2007. His party was known for its strong support to the Taliban government in Afghanistan in the 1990s. www.facebook.com/syedmunawarhasan The International Institute for Strategic Studies 4
www.wikipedia.org www.facebook.com/pages/baba-e-qaum Encyclopædia Britannica Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Ali Jinnah Liaquat Ali Khan POLITICAL LEADERS SINCE INDEPENDENCE IN 1947 MUHAMMAD IQBAL Leader of the Muslim League and ideological founder of Pakistan (1926-1938) Sir Muhammad Iqbal, commonly referred to as Allama Iqbal (Urdu: Scholar ), was born in 1877 and became one of the most famous Urdu/Persian poets and philosophers of the sub-continent in addition to being a prominent leader of the Muslim League. Iqbal is credited with first floating the idea of the formation of a Muslim majority state (albeit within the dominion of India) in Northwest India. This suggestion was made in his presidential address in the 1930 session of the Muslim League. Iqbal passed away in 1938, nine years before the creation of Pakistan, although he is widely commemorated as the ideological founder of the country. MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH Governor-General of Pakistan (1947-1948) Muhammad Ali Jinnah, also known as Quaid-e-Azam (Urdu: "Great Leader"), born in 1876, was the most prominent of the leaders of the All India Muslim League, and is known as the founder of Pakistan. Originally from the state of Gujrat, Jinnah launched his career in India as a lawyer, having been called to the Bar at Lincoln s Inn. He soon joined politics, and from 1913 until Pakistan s independence in 1947, he was a leading member of the League. He was elected as permanent president of the party in 1934. Upon the creation of Pakistan in August 1947, he became the first Governor-General of the country and remained in this position until his death on September 11, 1948. Jinnah initially rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress, and later helped shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact 1 between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress. He also proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India. Jinnah was a strong advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity until 1928, when the publication of the Nehru Report convinced him that the Congress party would be reluctant to agree to special concessions ensuring Muslim representation in any proposed central government for India. Jinnah later advocated the two-nation theory embracing the goal of creating a separate Muslim state. The League won most reserved Muslim seats in the elections of 1946. As the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League failed to reach a power sharing formula for united India, it prompted both the parties and the British to agree to the division of India into two autonomous states, Pakistan and India. As the first Governor-General of Pakistan, Jinnah led efforts to lay the foundations of the new state of Pakistan, frame national policies and rehabilitate millions of Muslim refugees who had migrated from India. Jinnah died aged 71 in September 1948, just over a year after Pakistan gained independence. Biographies of main political leaders of Pakistan 5
CIDOB International Yearbook 2012 Pakistan: Country Profile LIAQUAT ALI KHAN Prime minister of Pakistan (1947-1951) Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan was also a leader of the Muslim League and became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan after independence in 1947. Prior to independence, he was also the Finance Minister of India in 1946. A staunch ally of Jinnah, Liaquat supported him in his campaign for the creation of a separate state for Indian Muslims. His government was characterized by its tilt towards the US as opposed to India s non-aligned status; and also by an attempted coup involving leftist intellectuals and army personnel. As the government struggled to control internal dissent within the League, as well as a vocal and strengthening opposition, it was forced to yield to the demands of some vested interests. An example of this was the passage of the Objectives Resolution in 1949, soon after Jinnah s death, which highlighted the role of religion in the business of the state. Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951, and his murderer was also killed on the spot by police officers. His murder remains unsolved. MUHAMMAD AYUB KHAN President of Pakistan (1958-1969) Muhammad Ayub Khan was the Chief of Army Staff, and later, a self-appointed Field Marshal. He imposed martial law in 1958, the first in Pakistan s history, after dismissing the government of Iskander Mirza, the last Governor General and first President of Pakistan. General Ayub s government was characterized by the introduction of a system of indirect elections (which was known as the Basic Democracy) system, in which local government bodies elected members to provincial and the central legislature. Pakistan s first regular war with India (i.e. a war in which the armies were involved as opposed to irregular forces) also took place during General Ayub s rule, in 1965, and ended with a ceasefire brokered by the USSR. General Ayub s later rule was characterised by widespread civil unrest, triggered not least by a weakening economy in the latter part of the 1960s; and by increasing political turmoil in East Pakistan. General Ayub relinquished power in 1969, but instead of holding elections, he handed over power to the then Chief of Army Staff, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan. MUHAMMAD YAHYA KHAN President of Pakistan (1969-1971) General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan Qizilbash, was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1966, and succeeded General Ayub Khan to become the third President of Pakistan in March 1969. General Yahya Khan remained President until December 1971. He was forced to resign following Pakistan s defeat in the war with India that month, which had been followed by the secession of East Pakistan. Prior to this, Khan had been commissioned in British Indian Army and served during the Second World War. When in power, Khan took strong measures to weaken his political rivals, and became known for initiating military action during the uprising in East Pakistan which lasted from March to December 1971. As his successor, Bhutto ordered the arrest of Khan, dishonouring him and placing him under house arrest. Muhammad Ayub Khan Muhammad Yahya Khan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto www.na.gov.pk http://ameensanwal9.blogspot.com www.currentaffairs.com.pk 6
ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO President of Pakistan (1971-1973) Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the fourth President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973, after which he became the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the first elected Prime Minister, from 1973 to 1977. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the largest political party in Pakistan, and served as its chairman until his execution in 1979. The PPP had campaigned on a socialist economic agenda, and the government embarked on a program of economic transformation that included widespread nationalization of large-scale manufacturing industries, educational institutions, banks and later, even some small and medium enterprises like cotton ginning plants. These measures were highly unpopular with the business community, and may have engendered largescale corruption in the public sector. The regime was also characterised by the use of strong-arm tactics against the opposition, in particular the dismissal of two provincial governments in the provinces of NWFP and Balochistan respectively. In the case of Balochistan, this dismissal was followed by the start of a long-running insurgency, which lasted to the end of the Bhutto regime. Nevertheless, Bhutto s period in power was also marked by the passage of the 1973 Constitution, and important labour and social welfare legislation. In 1977, the PPP won the parliamentary elections, but widespread vote rigging was alleged by opposition parties. Negotiations between the government and the opposition were ongoing when the army staged a coup led by the Chief of Army Staff, General Zia-ul-Haq, who removed the Prime Minister and later also instituted criminal proceedings against him. In 1979, Bhutto was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for authorizing the murder of a political opponent, and was executed. GENERAL ZIA-UL-HAQ President of Pakistan (1978-1988) General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, was the fourth Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) and the sixth President of Pakistan. He took power in a coup in July 1977, and remained President till his death in August 1988. General Haq had been appointed Chief of Army Staff by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1976, superseding several others. His rule was characterised by widespread political repression, particularly of leftist parties, and by the imposition of Islamic law, Islamic banking practices, and an increasing trend of conservatism in society, which was particularly apparent in the (state-controlled) media. General Zia-ul-Haq was derided by the international community after the execution of Bhutto, but his support for the Afghan Mujahideen after the Soviet invasion of 1979 effectively cast him in a positive light in the West. spite of an outpouring of aid to Pakistan during his rule, and the revival of the economy, his repressive policies made him increasingly unpopular, and he was forced to hold elections (albeit party-less ones) in 1985. After the polls, he continued as President, but appointed a civilian Prime Minister, Mohammad Khan Junejo. In Differences with the civilian government on the issue of facilitating a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan caused him to dismiss Junejo s government in 1988, after which he was forced to call another general election. He died, along with key army personnel and the then US ambassador to Pakistan, in a mysterious aeroplane crash in August 1988. His demise paved the way for party-based polls in Pakistan for the first time since 1977 Biographies of main political leaders of Pakistan www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk/ General Zia-Ul-Haq Benazir Bhutto http://commons.wikimedia.org 7
CIDOB International Yearbook 2012 Pakistan: Country Profile BENAZIR BHUTTO Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-1990 and 1993-1996) Benazir Bhutto became the co-chairman of the PPP following her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto s execution in April 1979. Following long periods of incarceration and exile, she was elected Prime Minister in the elections of 1988. She served two non-consecutive terms; from 1988 until 1990, and from 1993 until 1996. On both occasions, her government was dismissed by the then President(s) on charges of corruption. She remained in exile after the dismissal of her second government, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was jailed on corruption charges. In 2007, President Musharraf granted Bhutto amnesty, and all corruption charges were dropped, resulting in her return to Pakistan after almost a decade. She was campaigning for the 2008 elections when she was assassinated in a suicide bombing on the 27th of December 2007, afte leaving a political rally in the city of Rawalpindi. Complete version of the Biography of Benazir Bhutto at CIDOB s website: http://www.cidob.org/es/ documentacion/biografias_lideres_politicos/(filtro)/ pais/(pais)/1133 MIAN MOHAMMED NAWAZ SHARIF Prime Minister of Pakistan (1990-1993 and 1997-1999) Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif served as the twelfth Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1990 to 1993 and then from 1997 to 1999. He is the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, a Centreright party. Sharif first came to prominence during the rule of General Zia-ul-Haq, and served as the Chief Minister of Punjab for five years in the 1980s. From 1993 until 1996, he served as the Leader of the Opposition. During Sharif s second term, he notably ordered Pakistan's first nuclear tests in response to India's nuclear tests in May 1998. Sharif s second term was also characterised by the Kargil war when Pakistani forces occupied strategic border posts in Indian Administered Kashmir. This conflict came to an end only when Sharif appealed to the US President to intervene with India and help negotiate a withdrawal by Pakistani personnel. In the midst of the resulting tension with the army, he appointed a new Chief of Army Staff while the existing Chief, General Pervez Musharraf, was on a foreign tour. The army staged a coup in response to this, and Sharif was initially served criminal charges, and then exiled to Saudi Arabia. He returned to Pakistan in late 2007, and although he was not allowed to contest the 2008 elections, he remains the leader of the PML (N), the largest opposition party. Mian Mohammed Nawaz Sharif PERVEZ MUSHARRAF President of Pakistan (2001-2008) General Pervez Musharraf, served as Pakistan s thirteenth Chief of Army Staff and tenth President. Musharraf led a military government from 1999 to 2007, initially ruling as Chief Executive and then as President. When threatened with impeachment, he resigned in 2008. In 1998, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff. Musharraf s past experiences included playing a vital role in the peace process during the Afghan civil war and spearheading the internationally condemned Kargil operation, which derailed relations with India. Musharraf obtained power by way of a coup d état in October 1999, in response to an attempt by Nawaz Sharif to remove him from the post of Chief of Army Staff. After the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, Pakistan, amid controversy, became a frontline state in the war against terror and a key ally of the US. Three years into power, Musharraf had himself elected President following a referendum, and then organized elections in October 2002, in which his favoured party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid group) came to power as head of a ruling coalition. Pakistan s economy did exceptionally well for some years under Musharraf s rule (notably from 2003 to 2006). However fuel and food price inflation began to erode www.facebook.com/lion.of.pakistan/ 8
Pervez Musharraf www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum Notes 1. An agreement between the Muslim League and Indian National Congress to place pressure on the British government to cede more home rule powers to India. 2. The Lal Masjid siege was a confrontation in July 2007 between the Islamic fundamentalist militants, based out of the Red Mosque of the capital Islamabad, and the Pervez Musharraf administration. Biographies of main political leaders of Pakistan these gains by late 2007. In addition, Musharraf s attempted suspension of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court initiated civil unrest against him, and his handling of the the Lal Masjid 2 siege caused a rise in terrorist attacks. He imposed emergency rule in November 2007, but later relented, resigned as Chief of Army Staff, and promised to oversee free and fair elections. He remained President for six months following the elections of February 2008, but resigned in August 2008 when threatened with impeachment. In February 2011, a Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant for him because of his alleged involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He is currently in exile. Complete version of the Biography of Pervez Musharraf at CIDOB s website: http://www.cidob.org/es/ documentacion/biografias_lideres_politicos/(filtro)/ pais/(pais)/1133 9