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Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad
Ali Jinnah
Pakistan,
one of the largest Muslim states in the world,
is a living and exemplary monument of Quaid-i-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah. With his untiring efforts,
indomitable will, and dauntless courage, he
united the Indian Muslims under the banner of
the Muslim League and carved out a homeland
for them, despite stiff opposition from the
Hindu Congress and the British Government. |
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Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born in Karachi on
December 25, 1876. His father Jinnah Poonja was an Ismaili
Khoja of Kathiawar, a prosperous business community.
Muhammad Ali received his early education at the Sindh
Madrasa and later at the Mission School, Karachi. He
went to England for further studies in 1892 at the age
of 16. In 1896, Jinnah qualified for the Bar and was
called to the Bar in 1897.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah started his political career in
1906 when he attended the Calcutta session of the All
India National Congress in the capacity of Private Secretary
to the President of the Congress. In 1910, he was elected
to the Imperial Legislative Council. He sponsored the
Waqf Validating Bill, which brought him in touch with
other Muslim leaders. In March 1913, Jinnah joined the
All India Muslim League.
As a member of the Muslim League, Jinnah began to work
for Hindu-Muslim unity. In 1917, the annual sessions
of both the Congress and the League were held at Lucknow.
The League session was presided over by Muhammad Ali
Jinnah. It marked the culmination of his efforts towards
Hindu-Muslim unity. Here, both the League and the Congress
adopted a scheme of reforms known as the Lucknow Pact.
On April 19, 1918, Jinnah married Rutanbai. Their daughter,
Dina was born a year later. In 1919, Jinnah resigned
from his membership of the Imperial Legislative Council
as protest against the "Rowlatt Act".
Until the publication of Nehru Report, Jinnah continued
his efforts for Hindu-Muslim unity. The Nehru Report,
published in 1928, was severely criticized by all sections
of the Muslim community. In December 1928, the National
Convention was called to consider the Report. Jinnah
proposed some amendments, but they were all rejected.
He finally parted ways with the Congress.
In
1929, Jinnah presented his famous Fourteen Points in
response to the Nehru Report. When he returned from
England, he reorganized the Muslim League. In 1934,
he was elected as its permanent president.
The Provincial Assembly elections of 1937 swept the
Congress to power in eight provinces. After almost two
years of oppressive rule, Muslims under the leadership
of Jinnah, celebrated the Day of Deliverance at the
end of Congress rule.
The Muslim League held its annual session at Lahore
in March 1940. This was presided over by Quaid-i-Azam.
The demand for Pakistan was formally put forward here.
This goal was realized on August 14, 1947. Quaid-i-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was appointed as its first Governor
General.
The establishment of Pakistan brought even greater responsibilities
for Jinnah. The refugee problem, the withholding of
Pakistani assets by India, and the Kashmir problem were
a real test for the Quaid. However, his indomitable
will prevailed. He worked out a sound economic policy,
established an independent currency and the State Bank
for Pakistan. He chose Karachi as the federal capital.
However, he did not live long to witness the progress
of the state that he had founded. On September 11, 1948,
he died after a protracted illness at Karachi. He was
buried in Karachi that witnessed the entire nation mourning
over an irreparable loss.
Allama
Muhammad Iqbal
Allama
Iqbal, great poet-philosopher and active political
leader, was born at Sialkot, Punjab, in 1877.
He descended from a family of Kashmiri Brahmins,
who had embraced Islam about 300 years earlier.
Iqbal received his early education in the traditional
maktab. Later he joined the Sialkot Mission
School, from where he passed his matriculation
examination. |
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In 1897, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts
Degree from Government College, Lahore. Two years
later, he secured his Masters Degree and was appointed
in the Oriental College, Lahore, as a lecturer of
history, philosophy and English. He later proceeded
to Europe for higher studies. Having obtained a degree
at Cambridge, he secured his doctorate at Munich and
finally qualified as a barrister.
He returned to India in 1908. Besides teaching and
practicing law, Iqbal continued to write poetry. He
resigned from government service in 1911 and took
up the task of propagating individual thinking among
the Muslims through his poetry.
By 1928, his reputation as a great Muslim philosopher
was solidly established and he was invited to deliver
lectures at Hyderabad, Aligarh and Madras. These series
of lectures were later published as a book "The
Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam".
In 1930, Iqbal was invited to preside over the open
session of the Muslim League at Allahabad. In his
historic Allahabad Address, Iqbal visualized an independent
and sovereign state for the Muslims of North-Western
India. In 1932, Iqbal came to England as a Muslim
delegate to the Third Round Table Conference.
In later years, when the Quaid had left India and
was residing in England, Allama Iqbal wrote to him
conveying to him his personal views on political problems
and state of affairs of the Indian Muslims, and also
persuading him to come back. These letters are dated
from June 1936 to November 1937. This series of correspondence
is now a part of important historic documents concerning
Pakistan's struggle for freedom.
On April 21, 1938, the great Muslim poet-philosopher
and champion of the Muslim cause, passed away. He
lies buried next to the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore.
Sir
Syed Ahmad Khan
The
greatest Muslim reformer and statesman
of the 19th Century, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was
born in Delhi on October 17, 1817. His family
on the maternal and paternal side had close
contacts with the Mughal court. His maternal
grandfather, Khwajah Farid was a Wazir in the
court of Akbar Shah II. His paternal grandfather
Syed Hadi held a mansab and the title of Jawwad
Ali Khan in the court of Alamgir II. His father,
Mir Muttaqi, had been close to Akbar Shah since
the days of his prince-hood. Syed Ahmad's mother,
Aziz-un-Nisa, took a great deal of interest
in the education and upbringing of her son.
She imposed a rigid discipline on him and Sir
Syed himself admitted that her supervision counted
for much in the formation of his character.
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The
early years of Sir Syed's life were spent in the atmosphere
of the family of a Mughal noble. There was nothing
in young Syed's habits or behavior to suggest that
he was different from other boys, though he was distinguished
on account of his extraordinary physique. As a boy
he learnt swimming and archery, which were favorite
sports of the well-to-do class in those days.
Sir
Syed received his education under the old system.
He learnt to read the Quran under a female teacher
at his home. After this, he was put in the charge
of Maulvi Hamid-ud-Din, the first of his private tutors.
Having completed a course in Persian and Arabic, he
took to the study of mathematics, which was a favorite
subject of the maternal side of his family. He later
became interested in medicine and studied some well-known
books on the subject. However, he soon gave it up
without completing the full course. At the age of
18 or 19 his formal education came to an end but he
continued his studies privately. He started taking
a keen interest in the literary gatherings and cultural
activities of the city.
The
death of his father in 1838 left the family in difficulties.
Thus young Syed was compelled at the early age of
21 to look for a career. He decided to enter the service
of the East India Company. He started his career as
Sarishtedar in a court of law. He became Naib Munshi
in 1839 and Munshi in 1841. In 1858 he was promoted
and appointed as Sadar-us-Sadur at Muradabad. In 1867
he was promoted and posted as the judge of the Small
Causes Court. He retired in 1876. He spent the rest
of his life for Aligarh College and the Muslims of
South Asia.
Sir
Syed's greatest achievement was his Aligarh Movement,
which was primarily an educational venture. He established
Gulshan School at Muradabad in 1859, Victoria School
at Ghazipur in 1863, and a scientific society in 1864.
When Sir Syed was posted at Aligarh in 1867, he started
the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School in the city.
Sir Syed got the opportunity to visit England in 1869-70.
During his stay, he studied the British educational
system and appreciated it. On his return home he decided
to make M. A. O. High School on the pattern of British
boarding schools. The School later became a college
in 1875. The status of University was given to the
college after the death of Sir Syed in 1920. M. A.
O. High School, College and University played a big
role in the awareness of the Muslims of South Asia.
Unlike
other Muslim leaders of his time, Sir Syed was of
the view that Muslims should have friendship with
the British if they want to take their due rights.
To achieve this he did a lot to convince the British
that Muslims were not against them. On the other hand,
he tried his best to convince the Muslims that if
they did not befriend the British, they could not
achieve their goals. Sir Syed wrote many books and
journals to remove the misunderstandings between Muslims
and the British. The most significant of his literary
works were his pamphlets "Loyal Muhammadans of
India" and "Cause of Indian Revolt".
He also wrote a commentary on the Bible, in which
he attempted to prove that Islam is the closest religion
to Christianity.
Sir
Syed asked the Muslims of his time not to participate
in politics unless and until they got modern education.
He was of the view that Muslims could not succeed
in the field of western politics without knowing the
system. He was invited to attend the first session
of the Indian National Congress and to join the organization
but he refused to accept the offer. He also asked
the Muslims to keep themselves away from the Congress
and predicted that the party would prove to be a pure
Hindu party in the times to come. By establishing
the Muhammadan Educational Conference, he provided
Muslims with a platform on which he could discuss
their political problems. Sir Syed is known as the
founder of Two-Nation Theory in the modern era.
In
the beginning of 1898 he started keeping abnormally
quiet. For hours he would not utter a word to friends
who visited him. Medical aid proved ineffective. His
condition became critical on 24th of March. On the
morning of March 27, a severe headache further worsened
it. He expired the same evening in the house of Haji
Ismail Khan, where he had been shifted 10 or 12 days
earlier. He was buried the following afternoon in
the compound of the Mosque of Aligarh College. He
was mourned by a large number of friends and admirers
both within and outside South Asia.
Liaquat Ali Khan
The
second son of Nawab Rustam Ali Khan, was born
on October 1, 1896, in a Madal Pathan (Nausherwan)
family. He graduated in 1918 from M. A. O. College,
Aligarh. He married his cousin, Jehangira Begum
in 1918. After his marriage, he went to London
for higher education. In 1921, he obtained a
degree in Law from Oxford and was called to
Bar at Inner Temple in 1922.
On his return from England in 1923, Liaquat
Ali Khan decided to enter politics with the
objective of liberating his homeland from the
foreign yoke |
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Right from the very beginning, he was determined
to eradicate the injustices and ill treatment meted
out to the Indian Muslims by the British.
Liaquat Ali started his parliamentary career from
the U. P. Legislative Assembly in 1926 as an independent
candidate. Later he formed his own party, The Democratic
Party, within the Legislative Assembly and was elected
as its leader. He remained the member of the U. P.
Legislative Council till 1940 when he was elected
to the Central Legislative Assembly.
Liaquat Ali's second marriage took place in 1933.
His wife Begum Ra'ana was a distinguished economist
and an educationist who stood by her husband during
the ups and downs of his political career.
When Quaid-i-Azam returned to India, he started reorganizing
the Muslim League. Liaquat was elected as the Honorary
Sectary of the party on April 26, 1936. He held the
office till the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.
In 1940,
Liaquat
Ali Khan won the Central Legislature election in 1945-46
from the Meerut Constituency in U. P. He was also
elected Chairman of the League's Central Parliamentary
Board.
After
independence, Quaid-i-Azam and Muslim League appointed
Liaquat to be the head of the Pakistan Government.
Being the first Prime Minister of the country, He
had to deal with a number of difficulties facing Pakistan
in its early days. Liaquat Ali Khan helped Quaid-i-Azam
in solving the riot and refugee problem and setting
up an effective administrative system for the country.
After the death of Quaid-i-Azam, Liaquat tried to
fill the vacuum created by the departure of the Father
of the Nation. Under his premiership, Pakistan took
its first steps in the field of constitution making,
as well as foreign policy. He presented the Objectives
Resolution in the Legislative Assembly. The house
passed this on March 12, 1949. Under his leadership
a team also drafted the first report of the Basic
Principle Committee. His efforts in signing the Liaquat-Nehru
pact pertaining to the minority issue in 1950 reduced
tensions between India and Pakistan. In May 1951,
he visited the United States and set the course of
Pakistan's foreign policy towards closer ties with
the West.
On October 16, 1951, Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated.
He had been scheduled to make an important announcement
in a public meeting at Municipal Park, Rawalpindi.
Chaudhry
Rahmat Ali
Chaudhry
Rahmat Ali, founder of the Pakistan National
Movement, was born in 1895. From his early childhood,
Rahmat Ali showed signs of great promise as
a student. After completing his schooling, he
joined the Islamia College of Lahore in order
to get his Bachelor of Arts degree. Rahmat Ali
finished education in England, obtaining MA
and LLB with honors from the universities of
Cambridge and Dublin. |
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It was during the years 1930 through 1933, that he
seemed to have established the Pakistan National Movement,
with its headquarter at Cambridge. On January 28,
1933, he issued his first memorable pamphlet "Now
or Never; Are we to live or perish forever?"
He coined the word "Pakistan" for 30 million
Muslims who live in the five northern units of India;
Punjab, North West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir,
Sindh and Baluchistan. The pamphlet also gave reasons
for the establishment of Pakistan as a separate nation.
He spoke of an independent homeland for Muslims, Pakistan,
in the northern units of India, "Bang-i-Islam"
for Muslims in Bengal, and "Usmanistan"
for the Muslims in Hyderabad-Deccan.
Chaudhry
Rahmat Ali propagated the Scheme of Pakistan with
a missionary zeal since its inception in 1933. In
August 1947, Pakistan came to be established and in
1948 Chaudhry Rahmat Ali visited Pakistan. Later he
proceeded to England to champion the cause of Kashmir
through the United Nations.
Sick
and weak, he died on February 12, 1951.
Miss
Fatima Jinnah
Miss
Fatima Jinnah, younger sister of Quaid-i-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was born in 1893. Of his
seven brothers and sisters, she was the closest
to the Quaid. Jinnah became her guardian upon
the death of their father in 1901. Due to her
brother's keen interest, and despite strident
family opposition, Miss Fatima received excellent
early education. She joined the Bandra Convent
in 1902. In 1919 she got admitted to the highly
competitive University of Calcutta where she
attended the Dr. Ahmad Dental College. |
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After she qualified, Jinnah went along with her idea
of opening a dental clinic in Bombay and helped her
set it up in 1923.
Miss Fatima Jinnah initially lived with her brother
for about eight years till 1918, when he got married
to Rutanbai. Upon Rutanbai's death in February 1929,
Miss Jinnah wound up her clinic, moved into Jinnah's
bungalow, and took charge of his house; thus beginning
the life-long companionship that lasted till Jinnah's
death on September 11, 1948.
In all, Miss Jinnah lived with her brother for about
28 years, including the last 19 tiring years of his
life. The Quaid would discuss various problems with
her, mostly at the breakfast and dinner table. Paying
tribute to her sister, the Quaid once said, "My
sister was like a bright ray of light and hope whenever
I came back home and met her. Anxieties would have
been much greater and my health much worse, but for
the restraint imposed by her".
Miss Jinnah not only lived with her brother but also
accompanied him on his numerous tours. In 1932, she
joined him in London when he remained there after
the Second Round Table Conference.
When
the All India Muslim League was being organized, Miss
Fatima Jinnah was taken on as a member of the Working
Committee of the Bombay Provincial Muslim League,
and worked in that capacity until 1947.
In
March 1940, she attended the Lahore session of the
MuslimLeague. Fatima was convinced that the Hindus
intended to subjugate and dominate the Muslims completely.
It was primarily due to her initiative that the All
India Muslim Women Students Federation was organized
in February 1941 at Delhi.
During
the transfer of power in 1947, she was an inspiration
to Muslim women. She formed the Women's Relief Committee,
which later formed the nucleus for the All Pakistan
Women's Association. She also played a significant
role in the settlement of refugees in the new state
of Pakistan.
Despite her old age, she continued to help social
and educational associations. During the Quaid's illness,
she remained passionately attached to him. After his
death, she often issued important statements on important
occasions, as a reminder to the nation of the ideals
on which Pakistan had been established.
In 1965, Miss Fatima Jinnah ran for President as a
candidate of the Combined Opposition Party. Even a
conservative party like the Jamaat-i-Islami accepted
her as a woman presidential candidate. Miss Jinnah's
greatest advantage was that she was sister of the
Founder of Pakistan and had been detached from the
political conflicts that had plagued Pakistan after
the Founder's death. The sight of this dynamic lady
moving in the streets of big cities, and even in the
rural areas of a Muslim country, was both moving and
unique. She proclaimed her opponent presidential candidate,
Ayub Khan, a dictator. Miss Jinnah's line of attack
was that by coming to terms with India on the Indus
Water dispute, Ayub had surrendered control of the
rivers over to India. Her campaign generated such
tremendous public enthusiasm that most of the press
agreed that if the contest were by direct election,
she would have won against Ayub.
It seems that the thought of doing a biography of
her illustrious brother came to Miss Jinnah about
the time when Hector Bolitho's "Jinnah Creator
of Pakistan" was first published in 1954. It
was felt that Bolitho had failed to bring out the
political aspects of Jinnah's life in his book. Miss
Jinnah started looking for a Pakistani author to do
a biography of the Quaid. G. Allana was her choice.
G. Allana assisted Miss Jinnah on the assignment but
they parted company due to reasons undisclosed. Later
both carried on their independent works on Jinnah.
Her book "My Brother" was published by the
Quaid-i-Azam Academy in 1987.
The people of Pakistan hold Miss Fatima in high esteem.
Due to her selfless work for Pakistan, the nation
conferred upon her the title of Madar-i-Millat, or
"Mother of the Nation". She died in Karachi
on July 8, 1967. Some historians indicate that the
date of her death was actually July 2, 1967.
Khawaja
Nazimuddin
Khawaja
Nazimuddin was born on July 19, 1894, at Dhaka.
He was educated at M. A. O. College, Aligarh,
and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He remained as
Chairman of Dhaka Municipality from 1922 to
1929. After becoming the Provincial Education
Minister in 1929, he piloted the Bengal Rural
Primary Education Bill in 1930, which was strongly
opposed by the Hindu members. |
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He continued as Education Minister till 1934 and then
became an Executive Councilor. In that capacity two
important Bills were passed to improve the lot of
Bengal peasantry that showed his steady levelheaded
outlook.
In 1937, he was appointed as the Home Minister. He
remained an active member of Coalition Cabinet of
the Chief Minister, Fazl-ul-Haq, during 1937-1941.
After Fazl-ul-Haq's resignation, Khawaja Nazimuddin,
who had been the Leader of Opposition from 1941 to
1943, became Chief Minister on April 24, 1943. In
August 1947, he was elected as the leader of the Muslim
League Party of East Bengal.
When
Muhammad Ali Jinnah passed away on September 11, 1948,
Khawaja Nazimuddin was designated as the Governor
General of Pakistan. After the assassination of Liaquat
Ali, Khawaja Nazimuddin was asked to step in as the
Prime Minister as there was no other person found
suitable for the post, while Malik Ghulam Muhammad
was elevated to the post of Governor General.
Khawaja
Nazimuddin died in 1964.
Maulana Muhammad Ali
Maulana
Muhammad Ali was born in Rampur state in 1878,
in a wealthy and enlightened family of Pathans.
His father died when he was two years old. He
and his family suffered financial problems after
the death of his father. Due to the efforts,
determination and sacrifice by his mother, he
and his brothers were able to get good education.
He did his graduation from Aligarh University
with honors and then went to Lincoln College
Oxford, England, in 1898 to study modern history.
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On his return he was appointed Director of Education
in Rampur State, and later joined the Baroda Civil Service
and served there for seven years. Maulana Muhammad Ali
was a brilliant and impressive writer, an orator of
the first magnitude and a farsighted political leader.
He wrote articles in various newspapers like "The
Times", "The Observer" and "The
Manchester Guardian". Maulana Muhammad Ali wrote
both in English and Urdu. He launched his famous English
weekly "Comrade" from Calcutta in 1911. After
shifting to Delhi in 1913, he, in addition to his English
weekly, also launched his Urdu weekly, "Hamdard".
The "Comrade" became an internationally famous
journal and secured many subscribers in numerous foreign
countries. He also worked hard towards making M. O.
A. College a Muslim University. He assisted in setting
up Jami'ah Milliyah Islamia, which was later transferred
to Delhi. For four years after 1911, he remained involved
in the Kanpur Mosque affair. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jouhar
was one of the cofounders of All India Muslim League.
He attended the first session of All India Muslim League
at Dhaka in 1906, and was later elected as its President
in 1918. He remained active in the affairs of the All
India Muslim League till 1928.
The
famous English weekly "Comrade" was launched
from Calcutta in 1911
During the Khilafat Movement, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jouhar
led a delegation to England in 1919, in order to present
the view of the Muslims. Although the delegation was
not successful in its aim, he still kept on working
for the Muslims. He also wholeheartedly joined the non-cooperation
movement organized by Gandhi. In 1921, after the British
refused to honor their promises in regard to Turkey,
he toured the whole of India in order to gather support
for the success of the non-cooperation movement. At
the end of the movement he was arrested and jailed for
two years.
In
1924, he renewed the publication of "Hamdard".
In 1928, he left the Indian National Congress, opposed
the Nehru Report tooth and nail, and supported the
Fourteen Points of Quaid-i-Azam. Despite his ill health,
he attended the First Round Table Conference in 1930,
where he effectively argued the case of the Indian
Muslims. He delivered a memorable, fiery speech against
the domination of India and in favor of immediate
independence. Soon after the first session was over,
he collapsed and died in London on January 4, 1931,
and was buried in Jerusalem according to his own wish
Malik
Ghulam Muhammad
Malik
Ghulam Muhammad was the first leader to be installed
in Pakistan's hall of shame. He was chosen by
the Quaid as the fledgling state's first finance
minister, one of the few Muslim who had some
experience of audit and accounts, as well as
dash and drive. That his skills in financial
management had been recognised by the topmost
non-Muslim industrialist was an additional qualification.
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What
was not noted was his outsized personal ambition and
exposure to intrigues common in princely durbars.
A rapid advance in career had sharpened his arrogance
and the applause he received from the ignorant for
balancing the first state budget and for scoring a
point over India by not devaluing the currency when
the latter did so, eroded whatever capacity he had
for being a responsible team player.He might have
secretly envied fellow professionals (Mumtaz Husain,
Zahid Husain, Mohammad Ali, et al) but he had little
respect for fellow ministers, or even the head of
the Cobinet. Few noticed that, like his colleagues
in p power, he did not understand the political and
social needs of the new state's population, nor the
effects of the peculiar demographic and economic disparities
between its two separate parts. No one perhaps found
the colonial model of state wanting in any respect.
He had little to do with Islam or socialism but did
not hesutate to offer their mixture as a popular ideal.
Ghulam Muhammad will be remembered for founding the
tradition of authoritarianism in Pakistan. As the
leading actor in three major sequences -- the dismissal
of prime Minister Nazimuddin, the dissolution of the
Constituent assembly, and the imposition of the non-unit
sceme -- he was primarily responsible for launching
East Bangal on the path of alienation from Pakistan,
for bringing the armed forces into politics, for confirming
the country's subservience to Cold War operation,
for creating bad blood between Punjab and the other
federating units, and for devaluing democratic norms.
Taken together his actions created crises that got
aggravated year after year and which have dogged the
state to this day with enormous costs to the people.
Muhammad Ayub Khan
Muhammad
Ayub Khan was born on May 14, 1907, in the village
of Rehana near Haripur, in Hazara District.
For his basic education, he was enrolled in
a school in Sarai Saleh, which was about 4 miles
from his village. He used to go to school on
a mule's back. Later he was shifted to a school
in Haripur, After passing his Matriculation
Exams Ayub was sent to Aligarh University where
he spent four years. However, before appearing
in his B. A. exams, he was selected for the
Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He sailed
for England in 1926. |
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Ayub's
performance in Sandhurst was exemplary and he won
several scholarships. After the completion of training,
he got commissioned in the Indian Army in 1928. He
fought at different fronts during World War II, first
as a Major and then Colonel. During the communal riots
of 1947, he was assigned to assist General Pete Rees
in the Punjab Boundary Force. At the time of Independence,
Ayub Khan opted to join the Pakistan Army, where as
a Brigadier, he was the senior-most Muslim officer.
In 1951, he was raised to the status of a four-star
General and was appointed as the first local Commander-in-Chief
of the Pakistan Army.
The first time military was directly involved in politics
of the country was when Ayub Khan, a serving Commander-in-Chief,
was inducted into Muhammad Ali Bogra's Federal Cabinet
in 1954, and was given the portfolio of Defense. Ayub
Khan was designated as the Chief Martial Law Administrator.
On October 7, 1958, Iskander Mirza enforced the first
Martial Law in Pakistan with the help of Ayub Khan.
Ayub Khan was designated as the Chief Martial Law
Administrator. However, the two leaders couldn't work
together for long. Ayub Khan snatched away Mirzas'
powers and assumed charge as the President of Pakistan,
in addition to his role as Chief Martial Law Administrator.
Later on he gave himself the rank of Field Marshal.
On
June 8, 1962, Martial Law was lifted from Pakistan
and the new Constitution was introduced. According
to this new Constitution, Presidential form of government
and the principle of Basic Democracy were introduced.
The imposition of the Constitution made no change
in the powers of Ayub Khan and he remained President
even under the new setup. Presidential elections were
held in 1965. The Combined Opposition Party nominated
Fatima Jinnah as their candidate in the election but
Ayub Khan managed to sweep the polls.
Ayub Khan's era is known for the industrialization
in the country. He created an environment where the
private sector was encouraged to establish medium
and small-scale industries in Pakistan. This opened
up avenues for new job opportunities and thus the
economic graph of the country started rising.He planned
a new city and moved the capital from Karachi to Islamabad
in 1962.
Every thing was moving in the right direction for
Ayub Khan till the start of the Indo-Pakistan War
of 1965. The performance of the Pakistani army was
good but the war caused a rapid decline of the country's
economy. He is also criticized his role at the Tashkent
Declaration. . The rest of the political parties formed
an alliance, the Democratic Action Committee, with
a one-point agenda, i.e. the removal of Ayub Khan's
government.
In
addition, Ayub's policies of concentrating political
power in his own hands, his control over the press
and media, imposing state of emergency in the country,
and his interference in religion were also responsible
for his downfall. Adding insult to injury, Ayub Khan
decided to celebrate a decade of his rule in 1968
and made exaggerated claims about the development
in the country.
By the end of 1968, the public resentment against
the Ayub's regime touched a boiling point and an anti-Ayub
movement was launched by the urban-middle class; including
students, teachers, lawyers, doctors, and engineers.
The Joint Labor Council called for a labor strike.
Demonstrations and agitation swept the whole country.
Law and order broke down and Ayub was left with no
other option but to step down.
On
March 25, 1969, he resigned and handed over the power
to the Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army, General
Muhammad Yahya Khan.
Mian Mohammad Iftikharuddin
Mian Mohammad Iftikharuddin is a unique character in
Pakistan's political history. He consistently served
his people without any opportunity of rulling over them.
Thus he belongs to that category who help shape their
society by the ideas they foster and the causes they
uphold, as distinguishable from those whose actions
in authority determine the nature and functioning of
the collective. Gifted with a board vision of life,
derived from the ideals of democracy, pease, secularism
and egalitarianism, he occupies a prominent place in
a small group of eminent Pakistais who offered an alternative
to objectives and practices that militated against the
spirit of the age, because of which, among other things,
dictators and philistines have never gone completely
unchallenged. Iftikharuddin raised his voice of sanity
whenever the state took a wrong turn. His brave attempt
to find a settlement between the Muslim Leauge and the
Congress on the eve of partition is well known, as is
his role in triggering off the Muslim Leauge civil disobedience
movement early in 1947. He called for land reforms not
only the grounds of economic and social necessity but
also to ensure a rational stellement of the refugees
and painless national integation. Struggles for civil
liberties, a federation or confederation based on the
rights of nationalities, and independence foreign policy
were permanent features of the creed. When martial law
was enforced in Lahore in 1953 he warned that the way
was being prepared for military rule; he warned Ghulam
Mohammad against relying on the army to dissolve the
Constituent Assembly; he denounced the one-unit as being
against provincial rights; and the rejected the 1956
Constitution as being against both national interest
and Islam. This record established him as one of the
most perceptive politicians Pakistan has had. There
is very little in his debit column -- his failure to
respond seriously to the Objectives Resolation, his
election and business tricks, and his inability to convince
his radical supporters that his lifestyle did not compromise
his convictions. Perhaps his most durable contribution
came in the from of Progressive Papers which not only
set standards in conscious and responsible journalism
but also served as a nursery for a whole generation
of journalista and defined the framework for a few press
that has been one of the nation's saving graces.
Bacha
Khan
The
real name of this great leader was Abdul-Ghaffar
Khan. The title of Bacha Khan was given by the
nation. Bacha in Pushtu/Afghani means "The
King". In afghan society this title is
awarded to someone who is willing to sacrifice
every thing for a cause. Indeed Bacha Khan Baba
was one such man. |
 |
Origon
Bacha Khan was born in the land of Afghans/Pukhtuns.
This land is known as Greater Afghanistan or Pukhtunistan.(For
more information go to www.pukhtunistan.4t.com). Khan
Abdul Ghaffar Khan was born in 1890 in Charsadda.
He got his early education at his home and near by
mosque and Islamic Madrassa (school). After comming
to his age,he was shocked by the illiteracy of Pathans/Pukhtuns.
He started a movement for the education of Pathan.
The other problem of pathan was unity among them.
So he opened a school in charsadda to educate the
poor Pukhtuns. This school was later demolished by
explosions by the provincial govt. of Qayyum Khan.
His movement became very popular among the Pukhtuns.
In 1920s he joined Congress Party of India. Due to
him Congress party became very popular in NWFP(North
West Frontier Province, now known as Pukhtunkhua).
He was made member of the central executive committee
of Congress party. During British Govt. he was sent
several time to prison. He spent 52 years of his 99
years of life in jail of exile. Congress party was
always winning election in NWFP till creation of Pakistan.
During referendom in NWFP for Joining India or Pakistan
Congress Party byocotted the referendom so most of
the people did not vote in the referendom. At that
time Congress party was the ruling party in NWFP.
Muhammad
Ali Bogra
Muhammad
Ali was born in Bogra in an aristocratic Nawab
family. Officialy he was carring the family
name Bogra. He studied at the Calcutta University
and in 1937 he was elected to the Bengal legislative
assembly.
In 1943, Muhammad Ali became parliamentary secretary
to Khawaja Nazimuddin, the then Chief Minister
of Bengal. Later in 1946, he became Finance
and Health Minister of the province. |
 |
After the formation of Pakistan, he was appointed Ambassador
to Burma in 1948 High Commissioner to Canada in 1949
and finally Ambassador to USA in 1952. Muhammad Ali
Bogra was appointed Prime Minister on April 17, 1953
by the Governor General.
Muhammad Ali Bogra was very renowned diplomat but almost
unknown as a politician. His appointment as Prime Minister
came as a surprise to political observers and public
alike, and it was widely suspected that his transfer
from Washington to Karachi, elevation to the office
was a prelude to closer relations between the US and
Pakistan.
Only three days after the new premier's nomination,
the US President Eisenhower asked Congress for authority
to ship hundreds and thousands of tons of wheat to Pakistan.
The US was at that time conducting a vigorous anti-Communist
policy and looking for friends in Asia. Pakistan entered
into defense pacts with it.
After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in
1954 by the governor-general, Muhammad Ali was again
invited to form a new cabinet call "ministry of
all talents."
Muhammad Ali Bogra was replaced by Chaudhary Muhammad
Ali in August 1955 after the second constituent Assembly
was elected. Muhammad Ali again resumed his assignment
as ambassador to the USA. He died in the year 1969
Iskander
Mirza
Iskander
Mirza was born on November 15, 1899, in a feudal
family of Bengal,Being the senior-most Muslim
Civil Servant in the Indian Ministry of Defense,
Iskander Mirza was appointed as the first Defense
Secretary of Pakistan at the time of Independence.
He served at this position for about seven years.
With the dismissal of the United Front's Ministry
in East Pakistan, Governor General Ghulam Muhammad
decided to enforce Governor's Rule in the province
and appointed Iskander Mirza as Governor in
May 1954. |
 |
From
October 1954 to August 1955, Iskander Mirza served
as the Interior Minister, and then as the Minister
of States and Frontier Regions in the Cabinet of Prime
Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra. Ghulam Muhammad, due
to his illness, went on a two months leave and left
the ground for Iskander Mirza to assume the post of
acting Governor General on August 7, 1955. However,
this temporary charge was soon made permanent. He
appointed Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, another bureaucrat,
as the Prime Minister of the country.
Iskander Mirza felt threatened by the reorganization
of the Muslim League and the alliance of the Awami
League with the Punjabi groups in mid 1958. On October
7, he issued a proclamation abrogating the 1956 Constitution.
According to the proclamation, the Central and the
Provincial Assemblies were dissolved and the first
Martial Law was enforced in the country. Iskander
Mirza himself remained President and appointed Ayub
Khan as the Martial Law Administrator and the Supreme
Commander of the armed forces. Ayub Khan proved to
be smarter than the politicians and refused to act
as puppet in the hands of the President. On October
27, 1958, Ayub Khan compelled Iskander Mirza to leave
the country, assumed himself the title of President,
and announced that Martial Law would continue in order
to give legal cover to certain reforms he wanted to
put through.
Iskander Mirza spent rest of his life in a hotel room
in London. He died on November 15 1969.
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan.
Nawabzada
Nasrullah Khan who is known for making various
successful political alliances against the military
rulers since creation of the country. |
 |
He
heads Alliance for restoration of Democracy (ARD)
which include Pakistan Peoples Party of Benazir Bhutto
and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) of Mian Nawaz Sharif.
The
90-year old veteran politician known as “Baba-e-Jamhooriyat”
(Father of the democracy) is still fighting for democracy.
Aga khan
Aga
khan (1877-1957) came from a very illustrious
family, which has left its mark in the pages
of history. The history of the Aga Khan family
in India begins from the year 1842, when his
grandfather, Aga Khan, Aga Hassan Alyshah reached
with his band of followers from Kandhar, as
a political refugee, and later settled in Bombay.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, Alyshah
Aga Khan II, who met an untimely death in 1895. |
 |
Aly
Shah was succeeded by his son, Sultan Mohammed Shah,
as Agha Khan III, at the age of seven. Educated in both
traditions, the Aga Khan showed special aptitude for
philosophy, theology and Persian poetry.
In his presidential address to the Mohammadan Educational
Conference, held in Dehli in 1902, he promoted the idea
of establishing a great central Muslim University at
Aligarh.
In 1906, Sir Aga Khan led the Simla deputation and very
adequately represented the Muslim demands for separate
electorates, later reflected in the Morley-Minto Reforms
of 1909. When All-India Muslim League was established
in 1906, Aga Khan was elected its first President and
continued to hold this post until 1912, when he submitted
his resignation.
On
January 1929, All-Parties Muslim conference, which met
in Dehli
with Aga Khan in the chair, made efforts to forge unity
amongst the two warring parties of the Muslim league
(the Shafi Group and Jinnah Group.) In his presidential
address the Aga Khan advised Muslim leaders to sink
their differences and to join hands.
In the Round Table conferences held in London 1930-1932,
His Highness the Aga Khan played his cards remarkably
as a skillful negotiator and a far-sighted statesman.
In 1932, Aga Khan was nominated to represent India at
the League of Nations and was unanimously elected President
of the League of Nations in July 1937.
At the age of eighty, he died on July 11, 1957 in Geneva.
Maulana
Sayyid Abu Ala Maududi
|
Maulana
Sayyid Abu Ala Maududi was born on the 3rd rajab
1321 AH (25th September 1903) in the city of
Aurangabad in the princely state of Hyderabad
Deccan in Southern India. |
 |
The
real worth of Maulana Abul A'ala Mawdudi's work has
been somewhat eclipsed by the prominence his Jamaat
Islami came to enjoy in the politics of a country
whose creation he had originally opposed. Mawdudi's
real work, as researchers in and outside Pakistan
have been pointing out, is his developing a modern
political Islamic ideology.
Mawdudi put emphasis on revolation through education.
This entailed a process of "Islamising society
by impressing Islamic values.." but he himself
later opted to take part in the electoral process.
Far from accelerating the process of Islamition the
jamaat had commited itself to' this shift led to sullying
the name of its founder. The style of politics the
Jamaat, more so its student wing Islami Jamaat Tulaba,
has been associated with has invariably led to criticism
of the plan of action he gave.However, in practice,
say analysts, Jamaat did not actually follow his formula.
In fact the diversion has led to the formation of
other revivalist groups, such as the Tanzeem Islamic
of one-time JI member Dr Israr Ahmad, on the original
Jamaat model
Hussain
Shaheed Suhrawardy
Hussain
Shaheed Suhrawardy is one of the most complex
characters Pakistan's historians have to deal
with. His understanding of history, politics
and the people was exceptionally high. A brilliant,
articulate advocate, he was accepted as a mature
liberal. He derived his political strength from
the democratic support of the people and opposed
dictatorship. |
 |
These
qualities enabled him to contribute to some heaithy
trends in politics. He was among the first to protest
against the way the 1940 resulation was being interperted
and the attempts to keep the two-nation theory alive
after its period had expired. History has yet to give
its final judgment on his plan to fight the threat
posed to post-independent India and P akistan by the
partition of provinces. But his character combined
several mutually contradictory elements. The image
of the man who walked by Gandhi's side to console
victims of sommunal rioting could not be reconciled
with the image of the chief minister under whom Calcutta
suffered one of the wrost carnasges in history.His
plea that after the provincial elections in Wast Bengal
the Constituent Assembly had lost its representative
character was sound, but it did not justify collusion
with Ghulam Mohammad in its sacking or his advocacy
of a convention to frame a new constitution. He was
strong on the rights of nationalities, yet failed
to recognise them in the case of West Pakistan entities
when as law minister he piloted the one-unit bill.
He might have been right in describing alliances of
Muslim states as zero plus zero but that furnished
no reason for joining those who had committed agression
against Nasser's Egypt. perhaps suhrawardy's political
career reflects the bigger tragedy of Pakistan's politics.
Neither he nor anyone possibilities of tacking the
problems rooted in the Indian Muslims freedom movement
and in the premises on which the state of Pakistan
was founded. Suhrawardy's brief stint as prime minister
became controversial partly because by then denigators
of demacratic rights had firmly entrenched themselves
and he was unable to defy the marching orders issued
by Iskander mirza. His final contribution to the people's
consciousness came in the from of a steady effort
to mobilise democratic forces against Ayub; that is
the image that survive and is worth preserving.
General
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan
General
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was born at Chakwal
in February 1917. His father, Saadat Ali Khan
hailed from Peshawar. After completing his studies
from the Punjab University, Yahya Khan joined
the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun. He
was commissioned in the Indian Army in 1938.
|
 |
His early postings were in the North West Frontier
Province. During World War II, he performed his duties
in North Africa, Iraq and Italy. After Independence,
Yahya Khan played a major role in setting up the Pakistan
Staff College at Quetta. During the war of 1965, he
commanded an infantry division. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief
of Pakistan Army in 1966 with the rank of General.
When, in 1969, countrywide agitation rendered the
situation out of control, Ayub Khan decided to hand
over power to the Army Chief, General Yahya Khan.
Immediately after coming to power, Yahya Khan declared
Martial Law in the country on March 25, 1969, and
assumed the title of Chief Martial Law Administrator.
He terminated the Constitution and dissolved the National
and Provincial Assemblies. On March 31, he also became
President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Unlike
Pakistan's other military rulers, Yahya Khan was not
interested in prolonging his rule. Immediately after
taking charge of the country, he started looking for
options through which he could hand over power to
the elected representatives. On March 29, 1970, through
an Ordinance, he presented an interim Constitution,
the Legal Framework Order. It was actually a formula
according to which the forthcoming elections were
to be organized. It goes to the credit of Yahya Khan
that the first general elections in the history of
Pakistan were held during his regime in December 1970.
The
trouble started when the results of the elections
were announced. The Awami League, under the leadership
of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman, swept 160 out of 162 seats
allocated to East Pakistan. However, the party failed
to get even a single seat from any province of the
Western Wing. On the other hand, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's
Pakistan Peoples Party emerged as the single largest
party from Punjab and Sindh and managed to win 81
National Assembly seats, all from the Western Wing.
This split mandate resulted in political chaos where
neither Bhutto nor Mujib was ready to accept his opponent
as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. When Bhutto and
Mujib failed to reach an understanding about convening
a session of the newly elected National Assembly,
the ball fell in Yahya Khan's court. He handled the
situation badly. He used army and paramilitary forces
in East Pakistan to crush the political agitation.
This resulted in the beginning of the war between
Pakistan and India in the winter of 1971.
Yahya
Khan, as President as well as the Commander-in-Chief
of Pakistan Army, failed to plan the war. This ultimately
resulted in the defeat of Pakistan, dismemberment
of the country and imprisonment of more than 90,000
Pakistanis. Surrender of Pakistani forces without
any resistance and the fall of Dhaka made Yahya Khan
the greatest villain in the country. People from all
walks of life started criticizing him and thus he
was left with no other option but to hand over the
power to the leader of the most popular party of the
remaining part of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, on
December 20, 1971. Later Bhutto placed Yahya Khan
under house arrest in 1972.Yahya
Khan died on August 10, 1980, in Rawalpindi.
Fazal
Ilahi Chaudhry
Fazal
Ilahi Chaudhry was born on January 1, 1904,
in Gujrat. He received his early education from
his hometown and went to Aligarh University
for higher education. He did his M. A. in Political
Science in 1925 and took his degree of Law from
the University of Punjab in 1927. After completing
his education, he went back to Gujrat and started
practicing Law. He took part in the election
of Gujrat District Board and was elected unopposed.
|
 |
He joined the Muslim League in 1942. In 1945, he was
elected from Gujrat as the President of Muslim League.
He took part in the 1946 elections on Muslim League's
ticket and played an important role in propagating
the ideas of Muslim League among the people of his
area.
After
Independence, he was given the post of Parliamentary
Secretary. He was later appointed Minister for Education
and Health. In 1951, he contested the elections of
the Punjab Legislative Assembly on the Muslim League
ticket and was elected as a member of the Punjab Assembly.
In 1952, he represented Pakistan in the United Nations.
In the 1956 elections, he was elected as member of
the Assembly and later as the Speaker of the National
Assembly. He remained as Speaker till 1958. In 1962,
when Ayub Khan announced the elections, he was selected
as the Deputy Opposition Leader of the House on the
basis of his experience and knowledge about parliamentary
proceedings. He joined the Convention Muslim League,
and after the 1956 elections, he was elected as the
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
He
was elected as member of the National Assembly in
1970 on the ticket of Pakistan Peoples Party and was
later elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly.
After the 1973 Constitution, Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
was made the President of Pakistan for five years
on August 14, 1973. On July 5, 1977, the army took
over the reigns of power in the country. Fazal Ilahi,
however, completed his tenure as President of Pakistan.
He resigned on September 16, 1978.
He
died on June 2, 1982.
Malik
Meraj 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
Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto
Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto was born on January 5, 1928. He was
the only son of Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto. Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto completed his early education from
Bombay's Cathedral High School. In 1947, he
joined the University of Southern California,
and later the University of California at Berkeley
in June 1949. After completing his degree with
honors in Political Science at Berkeley in June
1950, he was admitted to Oxford. |
 |
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto married Nusrat Isphahani on September
8, 1951. He was called to Bar at Lincoln's Inn in
1953, and the same year his first child, Benazir Bhutto,
was born on June 21. On his return to Pakistan, Bhutto
started practicing Law at Dingomal's.
In
1958, he joined President Iskander Mirza's Cabinet
as Commerce Minister. He was the youngest Minister
in Ayub Khans Cabinet. In 1963, he took over the post
of Foreign Minister from Muhammad Ali Bogra.
His
first major achievement was to conclude the Sino-Pakistan
boundary agreement on March 2, 1963. In mid 1964,
Bhutto helped convince Ayub of the wisdom of establishing
closer economic and diplomatic links with Turkey and
Iran. The trio later on formed the R. C. D. In June
1966, Bhutto left Ayub's Cabinet over differences
concerning the Tashkent Agreement.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto launched Pakistan Peoples Party
after leaving Ayub's Cabinet. In the general elections
held in December 1970, P. P. P. won a large majority
in West Pakistan but failed to reach an agreement
with Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman, the majority winner from
East Pakistan. Following the 1971 War and the separation
of East Pakistan, Yahya Khan resigned and Bhutto took
over as President and Chief Martial Law Administrator
on December 20, 1971.
In early 1972, Bhutto nationalized ten categories
of major industries, and withdrew Pakistan from the
Commonwealth of Nations and S. E. A. T. O. when Britain
and other western countries recognized the new state
of Bangladesh. On March 1, he introduced land reforms,
and on July 2, 1972, signed the Simla Agreement with
India, which paved the way for the return of occupied
lands and the release of Pakistani prisoners captured
in East Pakistan in the 1971 war.
After
the National Assembly passed the 1973 Constitution,
Bhutto was sworn-in as the Prime Minister of the country.
On December 30, 1973, Bhutto laid the foundation of
Pakistan's first steel mill at Pipri, near Karachi.
On January 1, 1974, Bhutto nationalized all banks.
On February 22, 1974, the second Islamic Summit was
inaugurated in Lahore. Heads of States of most of
the 38 Islamic countries attended the Summit.
Following a political crisis in the country, Bhutto
was imprisoned by General Zia-ul-Haq, who imposed
Martial Law on July 5, 1977.
On
April 4, 1979, the former Prime Minister was hanged,
after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence
passed by the Lahore High Court. The High Court had
given him the death sentence on charges of alleged
murder of the father of a dissident P. P. P. politician.
Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto was buried in his ancestral village at Garhi
Khuda Baksh, next to his father's grave.
Muhammad Khan Junejo was born on August 18, 1932, at
Sindhri, Sindh. After completing his Senior Cambridge,
he went to United Kingdom for a Diploma in Agriculture.
General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
| General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was the one who enforced Martial
Law for the third time in the brief history of
Pakistan. Second child and eldest son of Muhammad
Akram, a teacher in the British Army, Zia-ul-Haq
was born on August 12, 1924, at Jalandhar. |
 |
He was commissioned in the British Army in 1943 and
served in Burma, Malaya and Indonesia during World
War II. When the war was over, he decided to join
the armored corps. At the time of Independence, like
most of the Muslim officers in the British Army, Zia-ul-Haq
opted to join the Pakistan Army.
On April 1, 1976, in a surprise move the then Prime
Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, appointed
Zia-ul-Haq as Chief of Army Staff, superseding five
senior Generals. Bhutto probably wanted somebody as
the head of the armed forces who would not prove to
be a threat for him, and the best available option
was the simple General who was apparently interested
only in offering prayers and playing golf. However,
history proved that General Zia-ul-Haq proved to be
much smarter than Bhutto thought. When political tension
reached its climax due to the deadlock between Bhutto
and the leadership of Pakistan National Alliance on
the issue of general elections, Zia-ul-Haq took advantage
of the situation. On July 5, 1977, he carried out
a bloodless coup overthrowing Bhutto's government
and enforced Martial Law in the country.
After assuming power as Chief Martial Law Administrator,
Zia-ul-Haq promised to hold National and Provincial
Assembly elections in the next 90 days and to hand
over power to the representatives of the Nation. However,
in October 1977, he announced the postponement of
the electoral plan.
With the retirement of Fazal Ilahi, Zia-ul-Haq also
assumed the office of President of Pakistan on September
16, 1978. In the absence of a Parliament, Zia-ul-Haq
decided to set up an alternative system. He introduced
Majlis-i-Shoora in 1980.
In the mid 80s, Zia-ul-Haq decided to fulfill his
promise of holding elections in the country. But before
handing over the power to the public representatives,
he decided to secure his position. Referendum was
held in the county in December 1984, and the masses
were given the option to elect or reject the General
as the future President of Pakistan. The question
asked in the referendum was phrased in a way that
Zia-ul-Haq's victory was related to the process of
Islamization in the country. According to the official
result, more than 95 percent of the votes were cast
in favor of Zia-ul-Haq, thus he was elected as President
for the next five years.
After 11 years, Zia-ul-Haq once again made the same
promise to the Nation to hold fresh elections within
next 90 days. With Benazir Bhutto back in the country
and the Muslim League leadership annoyed with the
President over the decision of May 29, Zia-ul-Haq
was trapped in the most difficult situation of his
political life. The only option left for him was to
repeat history and to postpone the elections once
again.
However, before taking any decision, Zia-ul-Haq died
in an air crash near Bhawalpur on August 17, 1988.
Muhammad
Khan Junejo
Junejo
started his political career at the age of 21.
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
non-party based polls were held for the National and
Provincial Assembles in 1985, President Zia appointed
Muhammad Khan Junejo as the Prime Minister. He was,
however, dismissed on May 29, 1988, by the President
using discretionary powers given to him given under
the Eighth Amendment.
Muhammad
Khan Junejo was again elected Member of the National
Assembly in 1990. He died of illness in March 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.
In July 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq imposed Martial Law.
During the Martial Law, Benazir was allowed to proceed
abroad on medical grounds in January 1984, after spending
nearly six and a half years in jail. She went into
exile in England for two years.
In July 1984, her younger brother Shah Nawaz died
under mysterious circumstances in Paris. She came
back to Pakistan to attend his burial ceremony. A
year later she came back to Pakistan to fight the
elections for National and Provincial Assemblies held
by General Zia-ul-Haq. When she returned on April
10, 1986, one million people welcomed her at the Lahore
airport. She attended mammoth rallies all over Pakistan
and kept in close touch with the Movement for Restoration
of Democracy. On December 18, 1987, Benazir married
Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. She contested the elections,
which were held by Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who had taken
over as acting President after the death of General
Zia in an air crash on August 17, 1988, at Bhawalpur.
Benazir
Bhutto approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking
enforcement of the fundamental rights guaranteed to
the political parties under Article 17(2) of the 1973
Constitution, to hold the elections on Party basis.
The Supreme Court gave its verdict in favor of the
political parties. The P. P. P., without forming an
alliance with any party, won 94 out of 207 seats in
the National Assembly. With the cooperation of eight
M. Q. M. members and 13 members of the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas, the P. P. P. was able to get a clear
majority in the National Assemblies. Benazir Bhutto
was nominated as the Prime Minister on December 2,
1988, and Ghulam Ishaq Khan was nominated the President
of Pakistan.
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.
Her
publications include "Daughter of the
East" and "Foreign Policy
Perspective".
Farooq
Ahmad Khan Leghari
Farooq
Ahmad Khan Leghari was born at D. G. Khan on
May 29, 1940. He comes from a family that has
served as hereditary chiefs of the Leghari Tribe,
and has been active in politics. His father,
Nawab Muhammad Khan Leghari, and his grandfather,
Nawab Jamal Khan Leghari, both were progressive
leaders who introduced their Tribe to modern
ideas. |
 |
Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari did his graduation from
Aitchison College, Lahore, and earned M. A. P. P.
E. from Oxford University in 1963. In the same year,
he joined the Civil Service of Pakistan and worked
in various fields and Secretariat positions from 1964
to 1973. He left the Civil Service in 1973 on the
invitation of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to
join the P. P. P. In 1975, Farooq Leghari was elected
Senator. In the 1977 election, he won the National
Assembly seat from his ancestral constituency in Dera
Ghazi Khan and was appointed Federal Minister for
Production. In 1978, he was appointed Secretary General
of the P. P. P. and participated in the struggle for
the restoration of democracy. He remained Secretary
General till 1983 and underwent four years of imprisonment
during the Martial Law. Farooq Leghari was elected
member of both National and Punjab Assembly in the
1988 elections, and was appointed Federal Minister
for Water and Power from December 1989 up to August
1990. In October 1990 elections, he was re-elected
member of the National Assembly and became Deputy
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
In the caretaker Cabinet in 1993, Farooq Leghari held
the portfolio of the Federal Minister for Finance.
In the October 1993 general elections, he won the
National Assembly seat and was appointed Federal Foreign
Minister. Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari was elected President
of Pakistan on November 13, 1993, and took oath the
same day for a term of five years.
On December 2, 1997, Farooq Leghari resigned as the
President of Pakistan.
Instead
of leading a retired life after his resignation from
the office of President, Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari
entered the political arena by forming his own political
party, the Millat Party, on August 14, 1998, in Lahore.
His party contested the 2002 election by joining the
National Alliance. The National Alliance consisted
of seven parties, which included National Peoples
Party, National Awami Party, Sindh National Front,
Sindh Democratic Alliance, Nizam-i-Mustafa Party,
Baluchistan National Party and the Millat Party. Ghulam
Mustafa Khan Jatoi led the National Alliance as the
Chairman. Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari himself contested
the elections from Dera Ghazi Khan and Chicha Watni
and won from both seats.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Ghulam
Ishaq Khan was born on January 20, 1915, in
Ismail Khel Bannu District, N. W. F. P. He did
his graduation in Chemistry and Botany and joined
N. W. F. P. Civil Service in 1940. |
 |
After the unification of West Pakistan into One Unit
in 1955, Ishaq Khan was appointed Provincial Secretary
of West Pakistan for Irrigation Development. In this
capacity he represented the Provincial Government in
the Federal Planning Commission. In 1958, he became
Member W. A. P. D. A. In 1966, he was appointed Federal
Finance Secretary and promoted to Secretary General
Defense during Bhutto's tenure.
General
Zia appointed him Advisor on Finance and later on
as Federal Finance Minister. Ishaq Khan represented
his country in various international conferences,
which include U. N. Conferences on Finance, I. M.
F., O. I. C. and Asian Development Bank.
In
February 1985, Ishaq Khan was elected as Chairman
of the Senate. After the death of General Zia, Ishaq
Khan took over as acting President of the country
on August 17, 1988. He was elected President on December
13, 1988, as the consensus candidate of P. P. P. and
I. J. I.
In
1993, Ghulam Ishaq Khan was forced to resign from
his office due to differences with the Prime Minister.
During
his tenure, Ishaq Khan dismissed the Governments of
Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif using discretionary
powers given to the President under the controversial
Eighth Constitutional Amendment.
Muhammad
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.
During his tenure as the Prime Minister, efforts were
made to strengthen the industries with the help of
private sector. Projects like Ghazi Brotha and Gawadar
Miniport were initiated. Land was distributed among
landless peasants in Sindh. Relations with the Central
Asian Muslim Republics were strengthened and E. C.
O. was given a boost. In an attempt to end the Afghan
crisis, the "Islamabad Accord" was reached
between various Afghan factions. His most important
contribution was economic progress despite American
sanctions on Pakistan through the Pressler Amendment.
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
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar
On
January 1, 1998, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar took the
oath as the ninth President of the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan. He secured an all-time high number
of votes from an electoral college, consisting
of a total membership of two Houses of Parliament
and four Provincial Legislatures. No one before
him had ever received such overwhelming support
from the elected representatives of the people
of Pakistan. |
 |
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was born on November 2,
1929, in a middle-class family of the village Pirkot
in District Gujranwala, near Lahore. After graduating
from Islamia College, Gujranwala, in 1949, Mr. Tarar
secured his Law Degree from Law College, Lahore, in
the year 1951. The same year he was enrolled as a Pleader.
In October 1955, he was enrolled as an Advocate in the
Lahore High Court. He established a practice in Gujranwala
before rising to the position of Chairman, Punjab Labor
Court in 1970. Four years later he entered the High
Court and was appointed as the Chief Justice of Lahore
High Court. Earlier, during his days as Judge of the
Lahore High Court, he also served as member of the Pakistan
Election Commission. Justice Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was
elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court in 1991, from
which he retired in November 1994 on attaining the age
of 65 years.
Following
his retirement from the Judiciary in March 1997, Mr.
Tarar moved from a legal to a political career. He
was elected as member of Senate on P. M. L. (N) ticket.
On December 31, 1997, he was elected as the President
of Pakistan. His appointment as the President is widely
attributed to his close ties with the family of the
then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif.
On
June 20, 2001, by virtue of a Provisional Constitutional
Order, he was replaced by General Pervez Musharraf,
who himself became the President.
Immediately
after Independence in 1947, Rafiq Tarar performed
voluntary duty as a relief worker in camps set up
by Muslim Students Federation for refugees, migrating
from the riot-torn India to Pakistan. He has a passion
for poetry and literature, with a deep insight into
classic Persian Literature. He is married and has
four children; three sons and a daughter.
Mir Ghaus Bux Bizenjo
A consistent democrat, Mir Ghaus Bux Bizenjo remained
steadfast to his political principles and humanitration
ideals for five decades. He defined the national democratic
platfrom for which he struggled till his last breath.
Bizenjo is the most secular of the six top politicians
who shaped the post-independence political history of
Pakistan. Three features of his political distinguished
him from his contemporaries. One, he was progressive
and committed toemancipating the oppressed. As a socialist
or a social democrat, he viewed the world from the standpoint
of the havenots. That made him a true internationalist.
Two, he was the most articulate champion of the rights
of oppressed nationities and deprived regions and struggled
for the devolution of power. Despite being a staunch
nationalist, Mr bizenjo was never a chauvinist, nor
did he ever became an exclusvist as did many of his
comrades. Third, he was a great believer and practitioner
of demecracy and never abandoned the modes of peaceful
styuggle and pluralist adjustments through negotiations.
From the Utman Gil to the National Party and from the
national Awamy Party to his own Pakistan National Party,
Mir Bezenjo played a leading role for a constitutional,
federal and demecraric system with equal rights for
the people of federating units. His role in four movements
earned him a place in Pakistan's history. One, his struggle
against the One-Unit and the Ayub dictatorship. Two,
his pioneering role in making the constitution. Three,
his contribution to the battle for secularism. Four,
his efforts for a non-aligned foreign policy. Above
all, Mir Bezanjo was a clean and principled politician
-- a statesman who was not allowed to play his due role.
General
Pervez Musharraf,
General
Pervez Musharraf, the second of three brothers,
was born in Delhi on August 11, 1943. He spent
his early childhood in Turkey, from 1949 to
1956, owing to his father's deputation in Ankara.
On return to Pakistan, he received his education
from Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi, and
Forman Christian College, Lahore. Later in 1961,
he joined the Pakistan Military Academy and
was commissioned in Artillery Regiment in 1964.
|
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He fought in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 as a young
officer, and was awarded Imtiazi Sanad for gallantry.
He volunteered to be a commando, and remained in the
Special Services Group for seven years. He also participated
in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 as a Company Commander
in the Commando Battalion.
A graduate of Command and Staff College, and National
Defense College, General Musharraf also distinguished
himself at the Royal College of Defense Studies, United
Kingdom. During his military career, General Musharraf
has accumulated varied experience in different command
and instructional appointments. He also served as
Director General Military Operations at the General
Headquarters from 1993 to 1995
General Musharraf rose to the rank of General on October
7, 1998, and was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff.
He was given additional charge of Chairman Joint Chiefs
Staff Committee on April 9, 1999. After October 12,
1999, when the military took over the government in
Pakistan, he has assumed the title of the Chief Executive
of the country. General Pervez Musharraf assumed the
office of President of Pakistan on June 20, 2001.
In order to establish legitimacy and to endorse his
rule, General Musharraf held a referendum on April
30, 2002. As a result of this referendum he was elected
as President of Pakistan for another five years. As
as the President of Pakistan, he continues to hold
the office of Chief of Army Staff and Chairman Joint
Chiefs of Staff Committee.
General Musharraf got married in 1968 and has two
children, a son and a daughter.
Mir
Zafarullah Khan Jamali
Mir
Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the 20th 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
Punjab University. |
 |
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 Khan Jamali comes from a family with a
rich political history. His father Mir Shah Nawaz
Khan Jamali was a known politician of Baluchistan.
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
P. M. L. (Q). Mir Zafarullah Jamali is the Secretary
General of the P. M. L. (Q) and was their candidate
for premiership. Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was elected
Prime Minister on November 21, 2002, by securing 172
votes out of 329 votes cast.
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. Another of his son, Farid Jamali,
is active in politics. Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali
speaks 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.
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