Web Desk (May 24, 2018): The current government of PML N is going to complete its five years term in less than one week on May 31, 2018. Before leaving the power, they have to finalize the name of care taker Prime Minister of the country with the consensus of opposition parties in National Assembly.
Following are profiles of seven potential candidates, who have been proposed by three major political parties include ruling PML N, Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf for the slot.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz has proposed three names include former Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Hussain Haroon, former State Bank governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi for the premier of the country.
Abdullah Hussain Haroon (PML N Candidate)
Abdullah Hussain Haroon (born 21 October 1950) was the Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations from September 2008 to December 2012. A scion of the Haroon family, he is a businessman, social activist and a former Sindh Assembly speaker who was a board member of various educational institutes, sports associations and charity organisations.
Family background and education
Hussain Haroon is the son of Saeed Haroon, elder brother of Hameed Haroon and grandson of Sir Abdullah Haroon, a politician, who Muhammad Ali Jinnah called one of the strongest pillars of the All-India Muslim League. He belongs to a well-known Kutchhi family hailed from Kutchh in the neighbouring Indian state of Gujarat, settled in Karachi many years prior to independence of Pakistan in 1947. He completed his education from Karachi Grammar School about the same time as Benazir Bhutto did, and later he finished his education at the University of Karachi.[1]
Career
Haroon began his early career in public service as election Coordinator for Pakistan Muslim League in 1970. Later he served as Councilor, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) (1979–1985); Trustee Karachi Port Trust (KPT) (1980–1982); Member Provincial Assembly of Sindh (1985–1988), Speaker, Provincial Assembly of Sindh (1985–1986); and leader of opposition, Provincial Assembly of Sindh (1986–1988).[3]
Hussain Haroon has also served as Consultant, Pakistan Herald Publications Limited (PHPL) (1988–1989); delegate to the United Nations General Assembly; Member to the Board of Governors, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi (1996–1999); Director Board of Directors Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) (1997–1999); Chairman, Griffith College Karachi (1999–2005) and President, Pakistan-China Business Forum (1999–2004). He is the president of English Speaking Union of Pakistan and also has the distinction of being the youngest president of the elite Sind Club.[1][3]
Social activism
Haroon has demanded the establishment of a town on the outskirts of Karachi and proposed that it be named after late Benazir Bhutto. His suggestion was that up to six million people from the interior Sindh be settled there. He was also part of the protest against real estate development in Bundal Island by UAE-based Emaar Properties. Haroon is also known to have ably advocated the Sindh case against the Kalabagh Dam.
In 2017, he had become disillusioned with his former political party’s leadership, Pakistan Peoples Party and was leaving himself open to negotiations to join other Pakistani political parties and also left open the possibility for himself of contesting for a position in the upcoming general elections in Pakistan in 2018.
Ambassador to UN
In August 2008, Hussain Haroon was appointed as the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, replacing veteran Munir Akram.[2] The appointment was controversial because Haroon had no prior experience in the Pakistan Foreign Service or international diplomacy. He took over the post on 3 September 2008. Masood Khan, a career diplomat took over from Hussain Haroon on 1 January 2001.
Dr Shamshad Akhtar (PML N Candidate)
Shamshad Akhtar Detho PhD is a Pakistani development economist, diplomat and intellectual who serves as a Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and as the head of UNESCAP. Prior to that, she served as the 14th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, the first woman to assume this position. She also served as a senior adviser to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and the vice-President of the World Bank.
Akhtar was born in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. She is a Sindhi and hails from the village of Haji Nathar Detho in Naushahro Feroze District. Akhtar had her earlier education at Karachi and Islamabad and graduated from the University of Punjab with a B.A. in 1974 followed by a M.A in economics from Quaid-e-Azam University in 1975.
She moved to the United Kingdom as a Commonwealth Scholarship to study development economics at the University of Sussex, receiving another M.A in 1977. She moved to the University of the West of Scotland (then the University of Paisley) where she was awarded a PhD in 1980.
Career
Akhter, on far left, chairing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Akhtar started her career in 1980 with the Planning Commission in Islamabad but moved few months later to work with the World Bank’s Resident Mission in Pakistan as a country economist. She left in 1986 for a year-long sabbatical to attend John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as a postdoctoral researcher under the Fulbright Program.
In 1990, she moved to Manila to work as a senior economist for the Asian Development Bank and in 1996 and 1998 worked as Senior Financial Sector Specialist with the bank. In July 1996, she was promoted to Director and in June 2002 was put in-charge of the ASEAN region.
In 2005, she moved back to Pakistan to serve as the 14th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, a position she retained until January 2009.
On 23 October 2007, Akhtar was conferred Best Central Bank Governor for Asia 2007 by the Euromoney Institutional Investor. On 11 November 2008, Akhtar was named amongst the top ten women leaders in Asia by The Wall Street Journal.
In 2009, she re-joined the Asian Development Bank as a senior advisor to Haruhiko Kuroda. She moved to Washington, D.C. to World Bank and served as the Vice President Middle East and North Africa. During this period she spearheaded the bank’s response to the Arab Spring and the Arab regional integration strategy and its implementation. In September 2011, she moved to the United Nations to served as the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Senior Adviser on Economic Development and Finance to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In December 2013, she was appointed as the 10th Executive Secretary of UNESCAP in Bangkok.
Maleeha Lodhi (PML N Candidate)
Maleeha Lodhi (born 15 November 1952) is a Pakistani diplomat, military strategist, academician and political scientist who serves as Pakistan’s Representative to the United Nations, the first woman to hold the position. Previously, she served as Pakistan’s envoy to the Court of St James’s and twice as its ambassador to the United States.
Born in Lahore to an upper-middle-class family, Lodhi studied political science at the London School of Economics and after receiving her doctorate from the school in 1980, she remained there as a member of faculty teaching political sociology. She returned to Pakistan in 1986 to become the editor of The Muslim, making her the first woman to edit a national newspaper in Asia. In 1990, she moved to become the founding editor of The News International. In 1994, she was appointed by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as Pakistan’s envoy to the United States, a position she retained until 1997. She was once again appointed to the same position in 1999 by President Musharraf until 2002 when she completed her tenure and moved on to be High Commissioner to the UK.
In 2001, Lodhi became a member of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament, she served on the board until 2005. In 2003, President Musharraf appointed her as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom at the Court of St James’s, where she remained until 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, she served as a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics and the Kennedy School of Harvard University. In February 2015, Lodhi was appointed by Prime Minister Sharif to serve as Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Pakistan to the UN in New York City, making her the first woman to hold the position.
Lodhi is one of Pakistan’s prominent diplomats. She has been named as an international scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and, in 1994, Lodhi was named by the Time megazine as one of a hundred people in the world who will help to shape the 21st century. Lodhi was also a member of the National Defence University’s Senate, and has been a member of the advisory council of IISS and continues to be a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum. Lodhi is the recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz for Public Service and holds an honorary fellowship from the London School of Economics since 2004 and received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the London Metropolitan University in 2005. She is the author of two books, Pakistan: the External Challenge and Pakistan’s Encounter with Democracy. She edited Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State in 2010.
Opposition Party in the National Assembly PPP has proposed two names Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani for the post.
Zaka Asharaf (Pakistan People’s Party Candidate)
Muhammad Zaka Ashraf (Punjabi, Urdu, born 9 September 1952) is a Pakistani executive who was the president of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL). He was appointed chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board on 15 October 2011 by the President of Pakistan and took the charge on 27 October 2011.[2] However, on 10 February 2014, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif dissolved the PCB governing board and sacked him for the chairmanship of PCB. In August 2012, has been elected as chairman Development Committee of Asian Cricket Council.
He also served as Adviser to the Chief Minister of Sindh from 1988 to 1990. He is member of the Central Executive Committee of Pakistan People’s party (the ruling party of Pakistan). He is brother of Begum Ishrat Ashraf, Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNA on reserved seat. As a head of ZTBL, he promoted the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd Cricket Team, who performed very well in domestic cricket matches.
Zaka Ashraf belongs to a traditional Gujjar family of Punjab. After passing out from Cadet College Petaro, he took his bachelor’s degree, and then joined his father in his business.
He has had a career in business ever since. Over the years, he has become the Chairman of the Ashraf Group of Industries[5] and Ashraf Sugar Mills, Bahawalpur, both of which had been established by his father.
Over the past several years,[when?] he was also elected as the Chairman of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association. In this capacity, he has done a lot of work to promote the production and use of ethanol from the molasses produced in the sugar industry. He has been instrumental in developing a policy for the country to blend ethanol with petrol to reduce harmful emissions into the environment and to take the country one more step towards using indigenous fuels.
Prior to his tenure as President of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), the bank had been plundered by different interest groups in the country and left with huge losses and bad debts. It was a monumental task for him to bring the bank into a viable position. This bank is a very important component of our agrarian economy. Despite internal and external pressures, he has been trying hard to restructure the bank.
Jalil Abbas Jilani (Pakistan People’s Party Candidate)
Jalil Abbas Jilani is a Pakistani diplomat who served as the 22nd Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, and previously served as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan from March 2012 to December 2013.
Born in Multan to a family known for high-profile bureaucrats, Jilani was educated as a lawyer at University of Oxford, before joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan in March 1979. He served as the deputy secretary at Prime Minister’s Office between 1989 and 1992, and as the deputy high commissioner to India between 1999 and 2003. He headed the South Asia desk at the Foreign Office between 2003 and 2007, during which time he was also appointed as the Ministry’s Spokesman.
In 2007, he was commissioned as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia and served until 2009, when he was tasked as Ambassador of Pakistan to European Union based out of Brussels. Jilani was promoted to the highest rank of Federal Secretary (BPS-22 grade) in 2010 and consequently became the country’s Foreign Secretary in March 2012.
He is married with three sons. The eldest son, Ahmed Jilani, is a graduate from Australian National University and currently works at the FAO in Rome, Italy. Prior to working at the FAO, he worked as an intern in the Office of the President at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, Italy. His middle son, Amir Jilani, is an Economist working in international development in Washington DC and is a graduate of Georgetown University.
Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf has given two names of Justice Retired Tassaduq Hussain Jilani and Dr. Isharat Hussain for the top slot.
Justice (Retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jilani (Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf Candidate)
Tassaduq Hussain Jillani (born 6 July 1949) is a Pakistani judge who served as the 21st Chief Justice of Pakistan from 2013 to 2014. He previously served as a Justice of the Supreme Court from 2004, after being nominated Justice of the Lahore High Court by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1994.
Born in Multan, Jillani was educated at Forman Christian College and University of the Punjab. He served as Advocate General Punjab in 1993 before his elevation as judge. As Justice of the Supreme Court, Jillani refused to take oath under General Pervez Musharraf during emergency rule in 2007, and his post was rendered nonfunctional. After the Lawyers’ Movement, he was restored to the bench in 2009.
Considered a progressive judge, Jillani was a strong proponent of civil liberties and fundamental rights, authoring landmark decisions on women’s rights, honour killings, and the right to education. He also authored the suo moto decision on the protection of minorities and freedom of religion after the Peshawar church attack in 2013, widely held as the broadest interpretation of religious freedom laws in Pakistan’s history.
Tassaduq Hussain Jillani was born in Multan, Pakistan. After graduating from high school, Jillani attended Government Emerson College Multan and Forman Christian College University, where he earned BA and MS degrees in political science. He then gained a Bachelor of Laws from the Punjab University.[10] On a Higher Education Commission scholarship, Jillani later completed a course in constitutional Law from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the London University.
He was honoured with a “Doctorate in Humane letters” from Southern Virginia University in a special convocation on 12 October 2007.
Legal career
After completing his studies, Jillani started his law practice in 1974, in the district courts of Multan. After enrolling as an advocate at the Lahore High Court, he was elected General Secretary of the Lahore High Court Bar Association in 1976, and became a member of the Punjab Bar Council in 1978.
He was appointed Assistant Advocate-General of Punjab in July 1979.,[11] and enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 1983. In 1988, he was promoted to Additional Advocate-General of Punjab, before becoming Advocate-General of the province in 1993.
Judicial career
On 7 August 1994, Jillani was elevated as a judge of the Lahore High Court after his nomination was approved by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He was elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2004 by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Emergency rule suspension and reinstatement
On 7 November 2007, Jillani was one of the senior justices who refused to take a fresh oath of office, following the imposition of emergency rule by military ruler Pervez Musharraf. The justices regarded the Provisional Constitutional Order law by which to take oath, instituted by Musharraf, as unconstitutional. Jillani was among the senior justices that were forcefully retired and detained directly from the Supreme Court.
This exacerbated the Lawyers’ Movement against the Musharraf regime, and led to the reinstatement of the suspended judiciary on 23 March 2009. Prime Minister Gilani announced that President Asif Zardari had issued an executive order that restored the pre-Emergency judiciary, including the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. All deposed justices accepted reappointment.
On 31 July 2009, a full 14-member bench including Jillani held the declaration of emergency and imposition of PCO illegal and invalid.[14] It also held that the removal of all justices from the higher judiciary was not valid, and that the reappointment of justices had no legal effect as their removal in the first place was not valid.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner
On 17 August 2013, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry appointed Jillani to act as Chief Election Commissioner with immediate effect till the appointment of a new Commissioner. He succeeded former Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, who resigned from the office on 30 July 2013.[16] His appointment as chief election commissioner was secured through the by-election clauses of the Constitution.
Chief Justice of Pakistan
After appointing the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the nomination papers of Senior Justice Jillani to be elevated as Chief Justice, upon the constitutional retirement of the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry which due for 12 December 2013. Per Prime Minister Sharif’s nomination, President Mamnoon Hussain approved the appointment the same day.
Upon approval of his nomination, Senior Justice Jillani immediately resigned as Chief Election Commissioner and passed the office to fellow Senior Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk. On 12 December 2013, President Mamnoon Hussain, alongside chaired with Prime Minister Sharif, administered the oath to JSenior Justice Jillani as the Chief Justice.
Immediately after his oath, Justice Jillani declined special security protocol, and directed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar not to impose restrictions on commuters during his passage.
He also took suo motu action against the court administration for allowing only one news channel to exclusively cover the full-court reference in honour of the outgoing Justice Chaudhry. Justice Chaudhry’s principal secretary was found to be involved, and was transferred to the human rights cell as a result.
Dr. Ishrat Hussain (Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf Candidate)
Ishrat Husain is a Pakistani banker and economist who served as the dean of the Institute of Business Administration (2008-2016) and the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (1999-2006).
Born in Allahabad, British India, Husain moved to Karachi in 1947 and joined the civil service in 1964. He received his M.A in development economics in 1972 from the Williams College and his PhD from the Boston University in 1978. He joined the World Bank in 1979, working initially as the country economist for Liberia. In 1994, Husain became the chief economist for Asia-Pacific region and between 1997 and 1999 headed World Bank’s operations in Central Asia. He ended his World Bank career in 1999, and was appointed as the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and remained until December 2005.
In 2008, he was appointed as the Dean of IBA Karachi, in 2015 he was awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz by President Mamnoon. He resigned as the dean of IBA in 2016, however remains the Professor Emeritus of the institute. During his tenure, IBA expanded from a solely business school to a interdisciplinary university. In 2016, Hussain joined the Woodrow Wilson Center as a resident policy fellow.
Husain holds a master’s degree in development economics from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University. He is a graduate of the Executive Development Program jointly sponsored by Harvard, Stanford and INSEAD.
Husain joined the elite Civil Service of Pakistan in 1964 and served in the field and also held mid-level policy making positions in the Finance, Planning and Development departments before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1979 to join the World Bank as an Economist in West Africa Programs Department. He became the Bank’s Resident Representative to Nigeria in 1983 and led the Bank’s team that assisted Nigeria in formulating its first ever structural adjustment program in 1986. On his return to headquarters, he headed the Bank’s Debt and International Finance Division and contributed to the development of Bank’s strategy that led to World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) participation in the Brady Initiative for Debt Reduction.
Career
As Chief Economist for Africa between 1991–94 and later as Chief Economist for East Asia and Pacific Region he guided and supervised the Bank’s analytical work on the countries in these regions. In 1997 he was named the Country Director for Central Asian Republics and managed the World Bank’s relations, programs and policies with these countries. Earlier, he was the director of Poverty and Social Policy Department. He was responsible for the Bank’s policies and strategy development in such areas as Poverty Reduction, Gender Relations and Dynamics, NGOs, and Reform within the Public Sector. He was the Chairperson of the Public Sector Group.
Husain became the Governor of Pakistan’s Central Bank in December 1999. During the next six years, he implemented a major program of restructuring of the Central Bank and steered the reforms of the banking sector, which are now recognized by the World Bank and IMF to be among the best in developing countries. The main ingredients of the program were merit-based recruitment, competency-enhancing training, performance-linked promotion, technology-driven business process and induction of high-level skilled human resources. He placed great emphasis on practicing values such as integrity, trust, teamwork for the entire work force starting from the top.
Content Courtesy: Vikipedia
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