Adil Najam
Former President of Pakistan, Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari died in the early hours of Wednesday at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi. He was 70 and a heart patient for some time.
Like Ghulam Ishaq Khan before him (here and here), had the Presidency ‘thrust’ upon him by circumstance and political machinations of others; however, his use of Presidential powers while in office left a deep and lasting impact on Pakistan politics. Impacts that Pakistan is still reeling from.
A one time civil servant, schooled at Aitchison College, Forman Christian College, Punjab University and Oxford University, Mr. Leghari was a Baluch Sardar and reportedly a major land owner with 10 square kilometers of land ownership.
Once a PPP stalwart and close confidant of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, he would later turn against her and prove instrumental in her eventual fall from power. In fact, it was that closeness that elevated him to the Presidency in 1993 as he was considered loyal, dependable and reliable. In the end he proved to be anything but that for Ms. Bhutto and became a central actor in her removal from office as he removed his own party’s government under Article 58 2(b) on charges of corruption, lawlessness and extra judicial killings.
Here is a recent interview with Mr. Leghari:
Later he was himself forced to resign when Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister. Later still he formed the Millat party, which eventually formed an alliance with PML-Q during Gen. Musharraf’s rule, during which his son Awais Leghari was a high profile Minister. Others from his close circle – including Mahmud Durrani and Sumaira Malik – were also key players in Gen. Musharraf’s government.
Liars all of u are liars this man made every single road that exists in his home town along with every single school and every single islamic center.Come there and ill show u myself. Also when u are president, u cannot only see your area but all of Pakistan. Coming to the PML-Q thing, just take a look at what Awais Leghari did for the IT Ministry.He revolutionized the it sector by privatizing PTCL and laid out all optical fibre cables in Pakistan. Also, he was the one who created policies for the it ministry because of which mobile figures have increased dramitically. In 2002 there were 8 million users Now there are more than 100 million
All of u liars and fools have u not done your history. First of all, this man spent 25 years with zuulfiqar and benazir bhutto and he was loved and respected by them.But when Mr zardari came along,he polluted benazirs image and did corruption on her name.When Farooq got to knw about this,he asked benazir to put an end to this or he will take action and as she did not after several warnings he had no choice but to use article 58-2(b). Also, he was forced to resign by nawaz sharif as he did not accept his offer of firing the chief justice for pursuing cases against him so nawaz fired him. After which nawaz stormed the supreme court.
PMA, Good to see you here. Your comment is poetic. Now we have to locate MQ. hum se bhi dilfaraib hein gham roazgaar key.
A Baloch Sardar is dead and he will be replaced by another Aitchison College and Oxford trained Sardar son or grandson of his. In time he too will rise to power and become MPA, MNA, Minister, Prime Minister and President. The family holdings will grow larger and larger and someday someone will report that Sardar so and so, owner of twenty-kilometer square land in DG Khan is dead. And folks will say ‘Ina Lilla…..’. The children of peasant-slaves at Sardar’s land will be still peasant-slaves and folks will be saying ‘Ina Lilla……..
He is among those people who had the potential and provided with opportunity in life to change the condition of people of his area and his country. However he didn’t do either. He was satisfied with having his son and relatives as ministers. Typical Pakistani politician who comes into politics for their benefits. May Allah grant us politicians who are willing to make a difference (in positive manner of course..:-) )… May his soul rest in peace though…