Farooq Leghari
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| Farooq Leghari | |
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| In office 14 November 1993 – 2 December 1997 |
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| Prime Minister | Benazir Bhutto, Malik Meraj Khalid and Nawaz Sharif |
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| Preceded by | Wasim Sajjad |
| Succeeded by | Wasim Sajjad |
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| Born | May 29, 1940 Choti Zareen, Punjab, British India |
| Political party | Pakistan Muslim League (Q) |
| Religion | Islam |
Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari (Urdu: سردار فاروق احمد خان لغاری) (b. May 29, 1940) was President of Pakistan from November 14, 1993 until December 2, 1997.
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[edit] Early life
Leghari was born in Choti Zareen, a village of Dera Ghazi Khan District, Punjab on May 29, 1940 during the British Raj. He comes from a political family that has been active in politics in this part of the world since the pre-colonial days. His father Sardar Muhammad Khan Leghari and grand father Nawab Sir Muhmammad Jamal Khan Leghari had both been ministers who's brother Nawab Sardar Rahim khan Leghari founded Rahimabad and Nawab Sardar Rahim Leghari's son Sardar Sir Noor Muhammad Leghari promted it to success
[edit] Education
After his initial schooling at Aitchison College, Lahore where he was the head boy and declared the Best Leaving Student of 1957. He graduated with honours from the Forman Christian College, Lahore, Punjab where again he was amongst the best students, he went on to study PPE at College Oxford University.
After returning to Pakistan he joined the Civil Service and served for some time in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). On the death of his father he resigned from service and came back to his roots to look after the tribal affairs of his tribe. He is the head (Sardar) of the Leghari tribe.
[edit] Joining Pakistan Peoples Party
He joined the Pakistan Peoples Party, and was made leader of the party upon the imprisonment of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He was put under house-arrest several times during the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
[edit] President of Pakistan
In 1993, with the express support of the Pakistan Peoples Party he ran for the office of President and won the election against Wasim Sajjad. In November 1996, utilizing his powers under Article 58 2(b) of the Constitution of Pakistan[1], he dismissed the Peoples' Party Government of Benazir Bhutto on charges of corruption, lawlessness and extra judicial killings. It is widely believed in the inner circles of Pakistan that Leghari was blackmailed by Pakistan's intelligence agencies to dismiss Benazir - the intelligence agencies had photographed Leghari’s daughter meeting a boyfriend and threatened to go public[2].
Following the word of the Constitution of Pakistan he held elections for the National Assembly in 1997. The elections were won by the Pakistan Muslim League and Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister. A decisive majority in the lower house of parliament led the Sharif Government to remove the controversial 8th amendment from the constitution of Pakistan. Leghari saw this as a threat to his power and conspired with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Sajjad Ali Shah, to sack the Sharif Government. This led to an uprising against him and Shah, forcing both to resign.
[edit] Leghari in the Contemporary Press
The renowned Pakistani journalist Ayaz Amir summarized Mr Leghari's political achievements as follows: "Leghari is a walking embarrassment, one of the worst disasters to hit Pakistan’s political landscape." [3] Like many other politicians, Leghari allegedly received over 34 million rupees from the national funds during 1993/1994 in order to rig elections. [4]
Moreover, after resignation he was also investigated on the allegation of corruption, misuse of power and embezzlement of funds by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee headed by Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir in 1998-1999. The investigation was concerned regarding the tender of helicopter purchasing agreement which was given to his relative.
[edit] Formation of Millat Party and coalition with PML-Q
Instead of retiring from politics, he went on to create his own political party, the Millat Party, which entered into a coalition of seven parties, known as National Alliance, to participate in the general elections of 2002. The National Alliance, emerged as the 3rd largest group in the parliament and won 13 seats in the National Assembly. He entered in a coalition with the majority party to form the government, and his son Awais Leghari was made a federal minister for Telecom and IT, as a consequence, and another of his deputies Yar Mohammad Rind also was inducted in the Federal cabinet. Later Mohammad Ali Durrani and his niece Sumaira Malik from his party were inducted into the Federal Cabinet.
[edit] Part of ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
With National Alliance being merged with ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in May 2004 to form united Pakistan Muslim League, Farooq Leghari also became the member of the newly constituted party, with his son Awais Leghari being one of its senior vice presidents.
His elder son Jamal Leghari has recently been elected to the Senate of Pakistan. His daughter Faryal Leghari is an assistant researcher at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ President Leghari's Order of November 5, 1996
- ^ Tariq Ali. "Daughter of the West", London Review of Books, December 13, 2007.
- ^ Ayaz Amir (2005-07-01). "Longevity and endurance". Daily Dawn, Karachi, Pakistan. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ^ Ardeshir Cowasji (2007-08-12). "We never learn from history – 7". Daily Dawn, Karachi, Pakistan. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
[edit] External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Abdul Sattar |
Foreign Minister of Pakistan 19 October 1993 - 14 November 1993 |
Succeeded by Asif Ahmad Ali |
| Preceded by Wasim Sajjad |
President of Pakistan 14 November 1993 - 2 December 1997 |
Succeeded by Wasim Sajjad |
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