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With the recent assassinations of the Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and Punjab state Governor Salman Taseer, Pakistan has often witnessed hardliners not taking kindly to liberal leaders. Still, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Prime Minister of Pakistan, is seemingly unafraid to stand firm as a champion of liberalism. Gillani’s tasks when he took over seemed herculean, from dealing with an increasingly polarized society on one side to finding solutions for power shortages, rampant corruption and high inflation on the other. Today Gillani seems to have found his footing as a pro-development, liberal leader who eschews corruption and flaunts a clean image.
Born in Karachi, Gillani is from an influential political family, originally from the ancient city of Multan. This post graduate in Journalism from the University of the Punjab began his own political career when the dictator Zia-ul-Haq was in power in 1978. After joining the Central Working Committee of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), he was elected to the national legislature from Lodhran. Though he served in the cabinet of the then Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo, first as Minister of Housing and Works in 1985 and as Railways Minister a year later, he left the PML due to differences with another upcoming leader Nawaz Sharif.
That move would rewrite history for Gillani. He went on to join the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and has been a loyal member of the party for more than two decades now. When the PPP formed a government under Benazir Bhutto in 1988, he served as both Minister of Tourism and later for Housing and Works. Bhutto nominated him to be the Speaker of the National Assembly in 1993 and he held the honored position until 1997.
Then began a downslide for Gillani as well as the PPP when the party lost out to the PML in the 1997 general elections and Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister. Pervez Musharraf, the chief of the army, ousted Sharif through a bloodless coup in 1999. Gillani was arrested in early 2001, by an anti-corruption agency set up by Musharraf’s military government citing charges that he misused his authority while he was Speaker of the National Assembly. He was convicted and spent nearly six years in prison. He had immense support from inside the party as well as from human rights activists, who viewed the move as a witch hunt of opposition leaders by Musharraf. Gillani later spoke out, commenting that prison was more acceptable to him than betraying his party.
It was indeed ironic that when democratic elections finally took place in early 2008, the PPP regained power and it was Musharraf himself, as the President of the country, who undertook the task of swearing in Gillani, PPP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. Gillani sealed his win with a unanimous vote of confidence from the Parliament.
Immediately after becoming Prime Minister, Gillani introduced several austerity measures such as slashing the residence budget of the Prime Minister by 40%, removing special counters at airports for parliamentarians, and disallowing renovation of government buildings and residences. His top priority was initiating dialogue with extremists prepared to lay down arms. Then turning to the immediate needs of the over 170 million people in Pakistan, Gillani focused on initiatives such as the establishment of an employment commission, the procurement of funds for tribal areas, and the building of one million housing units annually for low-income groups. For farmers from the rural areas, he offered help in the form of brick-lined irrigation channels.
“I said to her, there are three types of people in this world - lovers of honor, of
wisdom and of wealth. I am of the first type, and that is all I want.”
- Gillani to Benazir Bhutto in the late 1980s
By the end of 2008, a prominent Pakistani business newspaper conducted an online poll and found Gillani’s popularity had shot up. This was a sharp contrast to his initial days of premiership when there were doubts that Gillani was up to the task. His very first address to the nation on Pakistan Television (PTV) was poorly orchestrated. He appeared to lack confidence as he attempted to read from a malfunctioning teleprompter, even though he covered important concerns, which varied the wheat flour shortage, one of Pakistan’s biggest concerns at the time, to issues like the restoration of judges fired by Musharraf, and unemployment in the country. Just as he was gaining ground, Gillani faced an assassination attempt near the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Gunmen fired at his car, but he had the good fortune of surviving the attack.
Contrary to popular expectation, he did not remain a figurehead Prime Minister after PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, became President replacing Musharraf in late 2008. Gillani has often taken a different stance from Zardari on issues and maintains an independent style, winning the admiration of his countrymen.
Political observers have hailed Gillani’s positive step of improving relations with neighbors. His recent visit to Afghanistan resulted in the formation of a Reconciliation Committee headed by foreign ministers of both the countries. He also accepted India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation during the recent cricket world cup and has spoken up for the need for both countries to resolve their issues.
In February 2011, Gillani infused freshness into his administration by dissolving his cabinet, a move to stimulate growth and innovation. Gillani is now back to business with a smaller council of ministers. With frequent bombings in the cities of Lahore and Karachi, curbing terrorism and improving law and order is his prime responsibility now. For a man that never enjoyed a honeymoon period, this Prime Minister will have to take action at once to get his country on track. His brethren are waiting for the winds of change, and now Gillani is the person destined to make sure the wind blows in the right direction.
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