All About Pakistan

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Prime Ministers of Pakistan

Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, ...
Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, speaking in New Orleans, 1950. Prime Minister Ali Khan, of Pakistan, speaks at a New Orleans Citizens' Committee dinner. From photograph album, "Visit of his Excellency Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, to the United States of America, May 3 to May 26, 1950." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Prime Minister of Pakistan is the Head of Government of Pakistan. The prime minister is elected by the National Assembly. Members of the National Assembly are elected by popular vote. The National Assembly then elects a Prime Minister for a five year term. Most commonly, the leader of the party or coalition with the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is responsible for appointing a cabinet. The President has the constitutional reserve power to remove the Prime Minister, through a dissolution of the National Assembly, triggering new elections. The Seventeenth Amendment imposed a check on this power, making it subject to Supreme Court approval or veto.
The office of Prime Minister did not exist during three periods of Pakistan's history, a circumstance different from a vacancy in the office, as a result of the dismissal of an individual Prime Minister by the President. In the first two cases, Pakistan had no Prime Minister from October 7, 1958 until July 3, 1972, and from July 5, 1977 until March 24, 1985 — periods of martial law. During these periods, the President, who was the chief martial law administrator, effectively had the powers of Prime Minister as the head of government, without the title of Prime Minister. In the third case, after Pervez Musharraf's coup, Pakistan did not have a Prime Minister from October 12, 1999 to November 20, 2002. During this time, Musharraf, holding the office of Chief Executive, was effectively the Head of Government.
Shaukat Aziz is the current Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was elected by the National Assembly on August 28, 2004, by a vote of 191 to 151 in the National Assembly.

History

The office of Prime Minister was created when Pakistan gained independence in 1947. Originally, the Prime Minister was given executive powers, which were later reduced as the power of the Governor-General grew. The office was discontinued in 1958 and revived in 1973. The power of the Prime Minister's office peaked in the late 1990s, with the removal of institutional check and balances, and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendments.
The first Prime Minister of Pakistan was Liaquat Ali Khan who was appointed to the position by the first Governor-General, Muhammmad Ali Jinnah. The office of Prime Minister continued until 1958. Many Prime Ministers were removed by the Head of State. In 1958 martial law was declared by Iskander Mirza, and the office of Prime Minister essentially disappeared until 1973. In 1973 a new constitution was written giving the Prime Minister executive power once again, and making Pakistan a Parliamentary system. The architect of that constitution, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, became the Prime Minister.
However, Bhutto was overthrown in 1977, and martial law declared again, with the office of Prime Minister being suspended until 1985 when Muhammad Khan Junejo was appointed by the newly elected National Assembly. This election also brought the eighth amendment to the 1973 constitution, and gave the President powers that balanced those of the Prime Minister. The President was now able to dismiss the Prime Minister and the National Assembly (effectively calling for new elections) without prior consultation with the Prime Minister.
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was elected as Prime Minister, becoming the first female head of government to be democratically elected in a Muslim country.
From 1990 onwards, the offices of President and Prime Minister would clash, with the President dissolving the National Assembly, and thus dismissing the Prime Minister a total of three times until 1996, with new elections each time. After the coup of Pervez Musharraf in 1999, Musharraf assumed the role of Chief Executive, and was the sole leader of Pakistan. In October 2002, general elections were held, with no party gaining a majority of the popular vote or National Assembly of Pakistan. A new Prime Minister was appointed after much political wrangling, Zafarullah Khan Jamali of the PML-Q, a pro-Musharraf political party.
In December 2003, the National Assembly passed the Seventeenth Amendment, partially restoring the power of the President to dissolve the National Assembly (and thus dismiss the Prime Minister), but making the dissolution subject to Supreme Court approval.
Jamali resigned on June 26, 2004. Interim prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain nominated the Finance minister, former Citibank Vice-President Shaukat Aziz, to the post. Aziz was elected Prime Minister on August 28, 2004, by a vote of 191 to 151 in the National Assembly.

Liaquat Ali Khan

Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan (October 1, 1896 – October 16, 1951) was the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was born in Karnal, India, studied law at the University of Oxford, and was admitted to the English bar in 1922. Returning to India, he joined the All-India Muslim League in 1923 and was elected to the legislative council of the United Provinces. In 1936 he became secretary-general of the league and the chief aide to its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. As such, he was the principal architect of the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947. An obvious choice for prime minister, he guided the country through its first difficult years. He was assassinated in October 1951 under circumstances never fully explained.

Khawaja Nazimuddin

Khawaja Nazimuddin (July 19, 1894 - 1964) was the second Governor-General of Pakistan, and later the second Prime Minister of Pakistan as well. He was born in Dacca, Bengal (now Dhaka, Bangladesh) into the family of the Nawabs of Dhaka. He received his education from Dunstable Grammar School in England, then Aligarh Muslim University, and later Trinity Hall, Cambridge until the mid-1930s.
After returning to India, he became involved in politics in his native Bengal. Nazimuddin was initially the Education Minister, but climbed the ranks to become the Chief Minister of the province prior to independence. Nazimuddin also became the head of the Muslim League in Eastern India. Upon the formation of Pakistan, he became an important part of the early government. After the early death of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Nazimuddin succeeded him as the Governor-General of Pakistan. At this point in time, the position was largely ceremonial, and executive power rested with the Prime Minister. The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951, and Nazimuddin stepped in to replace him.
During Nazimuddin's time as Prime Minister, Pakistan saw a growing rift within the Muslim League, especially between Punjabi and Bengali groups, as those were the two largest ethnic groups of Pakistan, but were separated by India. On 21 February 1952, a demonstration in the Language movement demanding equal and official status to Bangla language turned bloody, with many fatalities caused by police firings. During his reign, a framework was begun for a constitution that would allow Pakistan to become a republic, and end its Dominion status. Progress was made, but Nazimuddin's time as Prime Minister would be cut short in 1953. In 1953, a religious movement began to agitate for the removal of the Ahmadi religious minority from power positions, and demanded a declaration of this minority as non-Muslims. Nazimuddin resisted such pressures; but riots broke out in The Punjab against both the government and followers of this religious minority. Nazimuddin responded by changing the governor of that province to Feroz Khan Noon, but the decision came late.
Ghulam Muhammad, the Governor-General, asked the Prime Minister to step down. Khawaja Nazimuddin refused, but Ghulam Muhammad got his way by invoking a reserve power that allowed him to dismiss the Prime Minister. The Chief Justice, Muhammad Munir, of the "Federal Court of Pakistan" (now named as the Supreme Court of Pakistan), did not rule on the legality of the dismissal, but instead forced new elections. The new prime-minister was another Bengali born statesman, Muhammad Ali Bogra. The dismissal of Nazimuddin, the Prime Minister, by the Governor-General, Muhammad, signaled a troubling trend in Pakistani political history. The Nazimabad and North Nazimabad suburbs of Karachi and Nazimuddin Road of Dhaka have been named in honor of Khawaja Nazimuddin. He was buried at Suhrawardy Udyan of his hometown Dhaka

Muhammad Ali Bogra

Muhammad Ali Bogra (1909 - 1963) was a Pakistani statesman of Bengali origin, who served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 until 1955. Born at Bogra to a family descended from the Nawabs of Bengal, he attended the University of Calcutta and followed his education with a career in politics. In 1937 he began to receive prominence when he was elected to the assembly of Bengal. He would move up within the government of Bengal, serving under Khawaja Nazimuddin as the Health Minister.
Upon the formation of Pakistan in 1947, Bogra was put into the foreign service, and served in Burma, Canada, and eventually as ambassador to the United States. In 1953, he was selected by Governor General of Pakistan Ghulam Muhammad to replace Khawaja Nazimuddin as the Prime Minister.Bogra was a relatively unknown personality to the national political scene of that time. He was serving as Ambassador to the US when he was recalled to take the office of Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, he set out to form a constitution.
In order to complete this, he outlined his famous "Bogra Formula" that sought to form a bicameral legislature. An Upper House would have contained 50 seats, 10 from each province, i.e. with 10 from East Pakistan and 40 from West Pakistan. A Lower House would have contained 300 seats. The lower house seats would be determined by population of province, and East Pakistan would have 165 seats, while the four provinces of West Pakistan would have a combined 135 seats, but would be split among the provinces. A provision was also put in place that stated that if the President of Pakistan were from West Pakistan, then the Prime Minister would have to be from East Pakistan, and vice-versa. The plan was very popular, but was killed when Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the Pakistani Assembly later in 1953.
Bogra was forced to resign in 1955 by the new Governor General, Iskander Mirza. He returned to his post as ambassador to the United States. In 1962 he became the foreign minister of Pakistan, until his death in 1963. He was buried in his hometown of Bogra at present days Bangladesh.

Chaudhry Muhammad Ali

Chaudhry Muhammad Ali (July 15, 1905 - December 2, 1980) was a Pakistani statesman who served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1955 to 1956. Born in Jalandhar, he completed his education at Punjab University. Afterwards, he began working in the financial sector of Indian government, and was also one of the highest ranking Muslim civil servants in the British Raj.
Upon the formation of Pakistan, Ali was made the Secretary General of the new nation and was instrumental to setting up a budget for the fledgling nation. In 1951 he was promoted to Finance Minister. Four years later, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali was made Prime Minister by Governor General of Pakistan Iskander Mirza in 1955, after the removal of Muhammad Ali Bogra. While Prime Minister, Ali's greatest achievement was the formation of a new constitution for Pakistan, one that made it a republic in 1956. The constitution was extremely popular across Pakistan, and intended to mix democracy and Islam.
Despite this success, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali failed at healing rifts within his political party, the Muslim League. Splits within the party led to the formation of a new party, the Republican party. The new party claimed to hold the majority of seats in the National Assembly, while the Muslim League contested this and tried to have Ali check the Republican Party. Despite the demands of his own party, Ali would refuse claiming that as Prime Minister, the interests of the nation, and not of his party were primary to him. As the situation deteriorated, he resigned from both the position of Prime Minister, and from the Muslim League. Chaudhry Muhammad Ali died in 1980.

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (September 8, 1892 - December 5, 1963) was a politician from Bengal in undivided India, and later in East Pakistan, who served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 until 1957. He is also known for his controversial role in the Direct Action Day of August 16, 1946. Following riots in Bengal during the last days of India's freedom struggle, he was considered a favourite of Muhammad Ali Jinnah who spoke well of him. He is also considered as the first populist leader in Pakistan's history.He is the founder of Awami League, one of the two major political parties of present day's Bangladesh.

Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar

Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar (commonly known as I. I. Chundrigar) was Prime Minister of Pakistan for approximately 2 months from October 17, 1957 to December 16, 1957. Chundrigar was born in 1897, and educated at Bombay University. He first came to prominence in 1946, when Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the All-India Muslim League, was asked to nominate several members of Muslim League for the interim government of India under the transfer of power from British rule to independece.
Chundrigar was appointed Minister for Trade and Commerce in the first cabinet of independent Pakistan in 1947. He later served as ambassador to Afghanistan, governor of the North West Frontier Province, governor of West Punjab, and Minister for Law.
After merely a year, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy resigned from his Premiership in October 1957. His resignation came as a result of the President's refusal to convene a meeting of the Parliament to seek a vote of confidence. President Iskander Mirza appointed I. I. Chundrigar as the interim Prime Minister. Being a nominated Prime Minister, Chundrigar held a weak position from the very beginning. He headed a coalition government including the Krishak Sramik Party, Nizam-i-Islam Party, the Muslim League and the Republican Party. The Muslim League had agreed to form a coalition government with the Republican Party on the condition that by amending the Electoral Act, the principle of separate electorate would be implemented in the country. After the formation of the Cabinet, Ministers from East Pakistan and the Republican Party started opposing the proposed amendments. The Republican Party opposed the amendment as it wanted to gain advantage over its political opponent, the Muslim League.
Iskander Mirza exploited the differences between the parties and thus made Chundrigar an easy victim as he remained Prime Minister for only two months and therefore could not give any practical shape to his program.

Feroz Khan Noon

Malik Sir Feroz Khan Noon (1893-1970) was a politician from Pakistan. He was educated at Oxford University and belonged to one of the most influential landowning families of the Punjab. He held many posts in government both before and after the independence and was an important figure in the Pakistan movement. He was the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom from 1936 to 1941, and in 1947 he was sent as Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's special envoy to some countries of the Muslim world. This one-man delegation was the first official mission sent abroad by the Pakistani government. The aim of the mission was to introduce Pakistan, to explain the reasons of its creation, to familiarize the Muslim countries with its internal problems, and to get moral and financial support.
Noon was Chief Minister of the Punjab province from 1953 to 1956, after which he became Foreign Minister of Pakistan until 1957. On December 16, 1957 he was elected as the seventh Prime Minister of Pakistan. He held this post until October 7, 1958, when martial law was enforced for the first time in Pakistan's history by the Governor General Iskander Mirza. Apart from politics, Noon wrote five books, including his autobiography from memory.
Noon died on December 9, 1970 in his ancestral village of Nurpur Noon, near Sargodha. He was married twice. His wife, Viqar-un-Nisa Noon, was a social worker. Though not originally from Pakistan, spent her entire life working for the betterment of the people of Pakistan.

Nurul Amin

Nurul Amin (July 15, 1893 - October 2, 1974) a prominent Bengali leader of the Muslim League, served as Chief Minister of East Pakistan, Prime Minister and Vice President of Pakistan. Nurul Amin was elected as the Chief Minister of East Pakistan in September 1948 when Khawaja Nazimuddin was appointed Governor General on the death of Quaid i Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
In the 1954 elections, the Muslim League was comprehensively defeated by the United Front, an alliance between the Awami League led by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the Krishak Sramik Party of Moulvi A. K. Fazlul Huq, the Nizam i Islam Party of Maulana Athar Ali and the Ganatantri Dal led by Haji Muhammad Danish and Mahmud Ali Sylheti. Even Nurul Amin lost his assembly seat, and the Muslim League was effectively eliminated from the provincial political landscape. In the 1970 elections, Nurul Amin was elected to the National Assembly as one of only two non-Awami League members. Following the declaration of war between India and Pakistan in December 1971, Nurul Amin was appointed Prime Minister by President General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan on December 6, 1971.
However on December 20, 1971 Yahya Khan resigned. and the Deputy Prime Minister (and Foreign Minister) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sworn in as the new President. Two days later, Nurul Amin was appointed as Vice President of Pakistan, the only person to have held this post. He continued to hold this post until the lifting of martial law on April 21, 1972.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (January 5, 1928 – April 4, 1979) was a Pakistani politician who served as the President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and as the Prime Minister from 1973 to 1977. He was the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which is one of the largest political parties in Pakistan. His daughter Benazir Bhutto has also served twice as prime minister. Bhutto is often addressed as the Quaid-e-Awam (Leader of the People).
Born in a wealthy and influential family, Bhutto became one of the youngest politicians in Pakistan when he entered the government led by President Ayub Khan. Bhutto rose quickly in power, serving as foreign minister and a close advisor to Ayub Khan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Falling out with Ayub after the war, Bhutto founded the Pakistan People's Party, which won a majority of seats from West Pakistan in 1970. Bhutto refused to accept the victory of the Awami League, leading to a political and sectarian crisis. After the Bangladesh Liberation War, Bhutto took over as president and the first civilian Chief martial law administrator of Pakistan. In this capacity, he negotiated the Shimla Agreement with Indian leader Indira Gandhi to establish peace.
Under Bhutto, Pakistan adopted a new constitution. Transferring to the post of prime minister, Bhutto nationalised many industries. Pioneering Islamic socialism in Pakistan, he undertook land redistribution and other socialist policies. Bhutto also ordered the Pakistan Army to suppress the insurgency in Balochistan and suppressed a military coup attempt in 1973. However, Bhutto became increasingly unpopular over allegations of corruption and suppression of political opponents. The boycott of the 1977 elections by opposition parties created a political crisis that ended when Bhutto was deposed by the army chief Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Despite a controversial trial and protests, he was executed

Muhammad Khan Junejo

Muhammad Khan Junejo (born August 18, 1932 – died March 16, 1993) was 8th Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was born at Sindhri in Tharparkar of Sindh. After completing his senior Cambridge, he went to UK for a diploma in Agriculture. Junejo started his political career at the age of twenty one. In 1962, he was elected Member Provincial Assembly, West Pakistan from Sanghar. He was appointed Minister in the West Pakistan cabinet in July 1963 and held the portfolios of Health, Basic Democracies and Local Government, Works, Communications and Railways.
After partyless polls were held for the national and provincial assemblies in 1985, Muhammad Khan Junejo was appointed Prime Minister by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. To his credit, Junejo had stood up to Zia on several issues during his term as prime minister, including the issue of the signing of the Geneva Accords to end the fighting in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. Zia didn’t want Pakistan to sign the accords until after the Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan but Junejo had instructed his minister of state for foreign affairs to sign them anyway.
Zia was furious, but had bided his time before moving against Junejo. That time came soon after the Ojhri Camp blasts of April 1988. The Ojhri Camp ordinance depot in Rawalpindi was being used to supply US-financed arms and ammunition to the Afghan mujahideen to fight the Soviets. The government ordered an inquiry into the blasts. Junejo made a statement in the National Assembly promising to place the findings of the inquiry before the House. That was the last straw as far as Zia was concerned, and Junejo was dismissed on May 29, 1988 by the President using discretionary powers given under the 8th amendment. All Assemblies were immediately dissolved, and mostly military cabinet members (such as General Rahimuddin Khan) were called to form an interim government. Muhammad Khan Junejo was elected member of the National Assembly in 1990, and died of a serious illness in 1993.

Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto, the eldest child of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was born on June 21, 1953, at Karachi. She attended Lady Jennings Nursery School and then Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examination at the age of 15. In April 1969, she got admission in the U. S. at Harvard University's Radcliffe College. In June 1973, Benazir graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Political Science. After graduating from Harvard, Benazir joined Oxford University in the fall of 1973. Just before graduation, Benazir was elected to the Standing Committee of the most prestigious Oxford Union Debating Society.
In 1976, she graduated in P. P. E. (Politics, Philosophy and Economics). In the autumn of 1976, Benazir returned once again to Oxford to do a one-year postgraduate course. In January 1977, she was elected the President of the Oxford Union. Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in June 1977. She wanted to join the Foreign Service but her father wanted her to contest the Assembly election. As she was not yet of age, Benazir Bhutto assisted her father as an advisor.
At the age of 35, she was the youngest and the first woman Prime Minister to lead a Muslim nation in modern age. During her first term, she started Peoples Program for economic uplift of the masses. Benazir Bhutto also lifted a ban on student and trade unions. The P. P. P. Government hosted the fourth S. A. A. R. C. Summit held in Islamabad, in December 1988. On various issues, differences between her Government and the Establishment led to her dismissal by the President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, on August 6, 1990.
Benazir returned to power, by winning the October 1993 elections. The P. P. P. had won the largest share with 86 seats and formed a new Government with the help of alliances, but her own-nominated President, Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, dismissed her government again in November 1996 on corruption charges.

Nawaz Sharif

Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was born in Lahore on December 25, 1949. He is the eldest son of Muhammad Sharif, a joint owner of the Ittefaq Group of Industries. Nawaz Sharif got his schooling from Saint Anthony's High School. After graduating from Government College Lahore, he obtained his Law Degree from the Punjab University. Nawaz Sharif remained a member of the Punjab Provincial Council for some time. He joined the Punjab Cabinet as Finance Minister in 1981. He was able to raise the allocation of funds for the development of rural areas to 70 percent of the Annual Development Program in the Province. He also held the portfolio of Sports and was able to reorganize the sports activities in the Province.
In the general elections of 1985, Nawaz Sharif won with an overwhelming majority, both in the National and Provincial Assemblies. On April 9, 1985, he was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Punjab. On May 31, 1988, he was appointed caretaker Chief Minister, after the dismissal of Assemblies by General Zia. Nawaz Sharif was again elected as Chief Minister after the 1988 general elections. A massive uplift of Murree and Kahuta was undertaken during his term as Chief Minister of Punjab.
On November 6, 1990, Nawaz Sharif was sworn-in as Prime Minister of the country, after his alliance, I. J. I. won the October 1990 elections. However, Nawaz Sharif could not complete his term of five years, and was dismissed by the President in April 1993. He was reinstated by the superior Judiciary, but had to resign along with the President in July 1993.
Pakistan Muslim League again won the elections held in February 1997, and Mian Nawaz Sharif was re-elected as Prime Minister with an overwhelming majority. Taking advantage of his absolute majority in the National Assembly, he added a landmark in the constitutional history of Pakistan by repealing the controversial Eighth Amendment. This Thirteenth Constitutional Amendment stripped the President of his powers, under Article 52(b) of the Eighth Amendment, to dismiss the Prime Minister and dissolve the National Assembly. He added another milestone to the Constitution when his Parliament adopted the anti-defection Fourteenth Amendment Bill. His development venture of the Lahore-Islamabad motorway has also been appreciated by a segment of the society, while others have criticized it for being an extravagance for a developing country.
During his second tenure, his working relationship with the apex court severed, and his differences with the Chief Justice came out in public. He also developed an uneasy relationship with the President, Farooq Leghari, who had earlier been his major political opponent. With the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, the President was on a direct collision course with the Prime Minster. A few months later, this, and the dramatic confrontation with the Judiciary, culminated in the removal of the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali Shah, and on December 2, 1997, the resignation of President Farooq Leghari.
On October 12, 1999, the civilian Government headed by Nawaz Sharif was overthrown by a military coup. Controversy over the Kargil operation, corruption charges, and the "Plane Conspiracy" case are considered to be the main reasons for his ouster. After an extensive trial, Nawaz Sharif was charged and found guilty in the "Plane Conspiracy" case. On request of the Saudi Royal Family, the Government of Pakistan exiled him to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he now lives with his close family. Several cases of corruption against him are still pending decision in local courts.

Miraj Khalid

Malik Meraj Khalid was born in 1916, in a small village near Lahore. He studied Law and began his practice in 1948. He was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1965. He joined the Pakistan Peoples Party soon after its inception in 1968 and was appointed President of Lahore P. P. P. He was re-elected to the National Assembly in 1970.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto included Meraj Khalid in his Cabinet as Minister for Food and Agriculture and Under-Developed Areas in December 1971. In November 1972, he was appointed Chief of the Party's Parliamentary Affairs, and in 1975 he was given the portfolios of Social Welfare, Local Government and Rural Development. Later he was elected Speaker of the National Assembly. After the execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in April 1979, he was nominated member of the P. P. P. Central Committee. But he resigned in January 1988. He was again appointed as Speaker of the National Assembly in 1988. He lost the elections in 1993, and remained aloof from politics for sometime and served as the Rector of International Islamic University.
He was nominated as the Prime Minister of the interim Government in November 1996 and remained in power till February 1997.

Zafarullah Khan Jamali

Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the 21st Prime Minister of Pakistan, was born on January 1, 1944, at Dera Murad Jamali in Baluchistan. After getting his primary education in Baluchistan, he went to Lawrence College, Murree, for his O-levels. He did his A-levels from Aitchison College and graduation from Government College Lahore. He obtained his Masters Degree in History from Government College, Lahore.
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali began his political career as a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which he joined in the 1970's. He was elected member of the Baluchistan Provincial Assembly in 1977 and served as Minister of Food, Information and Parliamentary Affairs in the Baluchistan Cabinet. He also served in the national Cabinet of General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980's, where he first served as the Provincial Minister for Information, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, and later as Minister of State for Local Government.
Mir Zafarullah Jamali was among several senior members of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party who defected after General Pervez Musharraf took over in 1999 and formed their own faction, the PML (Q). Mir Zafarullah Jamali being the Secretary General of the PML (Q) was a strong candidate for premiership; he was elected Prime Minister on November 21, 2002, by securing 172 votes out of 329 votes. Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Shah Mahmud Qureshi of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians were the other main contenders.
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali is the first ever Prime Minister of Pakistan to come from Balochistan Province. He has four sons and a daughter. Two of his sons, Shah Nawaz Jamali and Javed Jamali are serving in the Army as Captains. Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali can speak multiple languages including English, Urdu, Baluchi, Brohi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushtu and Saraiki. He is a middle-of-the-road leader and a soft-spoken person. His love of sports has made a lot of contribution to his well-rounded personality. His main passion was hockey though he also played tennis and football. He was 'Blue' holder of Punjab University in hockey in 1961-65 and also captained its team. He represented Pakistan as a hockey player at international level. He was Chief-de-Mission of the Pakistan Olympic contingent to the Los Angeles games in 1984, where the Pakistan Hockey team won the Gold Medal. For almost two decades, he has been the Chief Selector of the Pakistan Hockey team. Due to his love of sports and a spirit of sportsmanship, he has imbued with tolerance and poise that leads to his successful political career.
Despite his submissive manner Jamali could not share power with President Pervez Musharraf more than 581 days (from 23-11-2002 to 26-06-2004) and was obliged to resign from his office of premiership on June 26, 2004.

Shujaat Hussain

Chaudhry Shujaat was born on January 27, 1946 in Gujrat and graduated from Forman Christian College, University of Punjab in 1967. His father, Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, was a seasoned parliamentarian who played an important role in restoring democracy and human rights in Pakistan and was duly honored as the “Prisoner of Conscience” by Amnesty International. Chaudhry Shujaat entered politics after his father was assassinated on September 25, 1981.
Chaudhry Shujaat became member of the federal parliament (Majlis-e-Shoora) in 1981 and worked till 1985. Chaudhry Shujaat for the first time contested in the general election from Gujrat on both the National and Punjab Assemblies seats in 1985 but had to vacate his Punjab Assembly seat and become a member of the then Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo’s cabinet as the Industries Minister. He also acted as the parliamentary party leader of the PML in the National Assembly. He was appointed the Information and Broadcasting Minister in the Junejo cabinet in 1986 and was appointed the Industries and Production Minister in 1987-88.
Chaudhry Shujaat was the interior minister in Nawaz Sharif’s first tenure. After losing the election from Gujrat in 1993, Chaudhry Shujaat became a member of Senate and the Chairman of the Senate’s standing committee on defence, production and aviation from 1993 to 1997. He won the general election again in 1997 by defeating PPP candidate Ahmad Mukhtar. Nawaz Sharif appointed him the interior minister in his cabinet and was elected the Punjab PML-Nawaz president in 1997.
After the Nawaz Sharif government was sacked on October 12, 1999, several PML-N dissidents formed a group under Mian Muhammad Azhar’s leadership. Earlier, Chaudhry Shujaat did not join any group but after Nawaz Sharif’s exile, he also joined Mian Azhar and formed the PML (QA) in March 2001. In the general election of October 2002, Chaudhry Shujaat was elected the National Assembly member from Bhakkar and Gujrat but later vacated his Bhakkar seat and acted as the PML-QA parliamentary party leader in the National Assembly. After Mian Azhar’s resignation, Chaudhry Shujaat was elected the president of PML (QA) on January 2003. He was elected as Prime Minister on June 30, 2004, four days after Zafarullah Khan Jamali tendered his resignation from the premiership.

Shaukat Aziz

Shaukat Aziz was born on March 6, 1949 and brought up in the southern city of Karachi. He received his early education from St. Patrick’s School at Karachi and Public School at Abbottabad, graduated from Gordon College, Rawalpindi in 1967 and achieved MBA in 1969 from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi in 1969. The same year, he started his career from Citibank as credit officer in Karachi and served in various countries including Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore. After being promoted to many positions, as Citibank's head of Corporate and Investment Banking for various regions, Corporate Planning Officer, Citicorp, country Manager for Citibank in Malaysia and in Jordan, a board member of Citibank subsidiaries and of several non-profit organizations, he was appointed Executive Vice President of Citibank in 1992. Before taking leave from Citigroup, he was the head of its global Private Banking division and progressed to a senior post with the bank in New York at the height of a 30-year career in global finance.
He was appointed as Finance Minister by the Government of Pakistan in November 1999 shortly after the army chief's 1999 military coup with the task of revitalizing the sagging economy. As the finance minister, Shaukat’s familiarity with a global banking came as an advantage. He was given the responsibility for managing country’s Finance, Economic Affairs, Statistics, Planning and Development and Revenue Divisions. He is also Chairman of Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet; Chairman, Executive Committee of National Economic Council and Chairman, Cabinet Committee on Privatization. He became a Senator in 2002.
Shaukat Aziz was criticized for his policy of downsizing in the public sector but he asserts that he made these institutions viable while they were on the verge of collapse. Another allegation against Shaukat Aziz is that as a Finance Minister his policies were not aimed at alleviating poverty as he seldom offered relief to the poor sections of the society. But it is claimed by many analysts that he achieved his target and strengthened the country's economic base; the recent economic figures prove his policies have worked. He improved the country's growth rate by 6.4% a year. For the first time in Pakistan's history revenue collection targets have been met in his tenure and allocation for development has increased by about 40 per cent though this success is attributed largely to debt reduction and securing of hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and aid in return for support in the US-led war on terror. Moreover, despite a series of internal and external distresses, economic situation of Pakistan improved significantly and reserves increased to US$ 10.56 billion on June 30, 2004 as compared to US$ 1.2 billion Oct 1999. Exchange Rate became stable and predictable. Inflation rate dropped to 3.5 % in last 3 years as against 11-12% in 1990’s.
He is appreciated by members of his personal staff as a hard worker who always maintained a strong financial discipline. He gave special attention to the development work at Gwadar Port and played an important part in developing other parts of Gwadar and making it an important city in the future. He was promptly nominated by the ruling party for the position of Prime Minister after Zafarullah Khan Jamali resigned. As he had to secure a seat in parliament - a requirement to take up the top post – Shaukat Aziz easily won two seats with a great margin from Attock and Tharparkar in the by-elections.

Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani

Syed Yousaf Raza GilaniThe current Prime Minister, Makhdoom Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani was born on 9 June 1952 in Karachi but his family comes from the Punjab. Gilani's father was a descendant of Syed Musa Pak, who was a spiritual leader of the Sufi order. He received his early education at the St. Mary's School and La Salle High School located at Multan. In 1970, he graduated in Bachelor of Arts and earned a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of Punjab.

His venture into politics began from the platform of Muslim League of Pakistan in 1978, when the martial law of General Zia-ul-Haq's was in term. He also served as cabinet member during the 3 year governance of Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo. Thereafter, he moved from Muslim League and joined Pakistan People's Party in the year 1988. He then served as cabinet minister again during the rule of Benazir Bhutto, as the Minister of Tourism (1989-1990) and Minister of Housing and Works (January 1990 - August 1990).

As a Prime Minsiter Makhdoom Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani was nominated by the Pakistan People's Party (P.P.P) with the support of coalition partners. He was sworn in as the Prime Minister on 25th March 2008 and took the oath of office from former President Pervez Musharraf. He is also the present Vice Chairman of his political party. Gilani was also a former Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan and a former Federal Minister. Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani joined PPP soon after the Junejo government after a brief stint with Muslim League.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was born on 26 December 1950 in Sanghar, interior Sindh and is the 17th and current Prime Minister of Pakistan. Previously, he served as the federal Minister for Water and Power in the Yousaf Raza Gillani-led cabinet from March 2008 to February 2011. He is a senior leader and politician of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from Rawalpindi District. Ashraf assumed premiership on 22 June 2012, after Yousaf Raza Gillani was disqualified over contempt of court charges. He was shortlisted by the PPP as a candidate for the post and was eventually elected based on a 211–89 vote in the National Assembly.

He graduated from the University of Sindh in 1970 and worked in agriculture before entering politics. He is married and has four children, which include two sons and two daughters. He is originally from Gujar Khan, an industrial town in the Rawalpindi District of the Potohar region in northern Punjab.

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