Gohar Ayub Khan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gohar Ayub Khan (born January 1937) is son of the late Pakistan President Field Marshal Ayub Khan, was born in Rehana, Abbottabad. He studied at Army Burn Hall College, Abbottabad, and Saint Mary's Academy, Rawalpindi Rawalpindi. Later, he graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK. Thereafter, he joined the Pakistan Army, from which he resigned as a captain in 1962. He began to serve as his fathers ADC during that period travelling with him on several foreign trips.
His role n Karachi after his fathers election in the allegedly rigged 1964 Presidential elections against Fatima Jinnah is a subject of criticism by many writers. Gohar Ayub it is said led a victory parade right into the heartland of Opposition territory in Karachi, in a blatantly provocative move and the civil administrations failure to stop the rally led to a fierce clashes between opposing groups with many locals being killed (Mazari 1999). Gohar Ayub also faced criticisms during that time on questions of family corruption and cronyism through his business links with his father in law retired Lt. General Habibullah Khan Khattak. One Western commentator in 1969 estimated Gohar Ayub's personal wealth at the time at $4 million dollars, while his families wealth was put in the range of $10-$20 million dollars (Pick April 1969).
Gohar Ayub has been elected five times to the National Assembly from his home constituency. He was first elected in March 1965 as a Muslim League candidate. In 1977, he contested the National Assembly seat from Peshawar Jail and was elected on Asghar Khans tehrik-e-istiqlal ticket through the aggressive campaigning of his wife. Gohar Ayub Khan has served as senior vice president of the Muslim League and was elected Speaker of the National Assembly after the 1990 general election, remaining in this post until 1993 elections. After re-election in 1993 Gohar Ayub became deputy leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. After the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz victory in 1997, he was appointed Foreign Minister by Nawaz Sharif. In 1998 Gohar Ayub resigned his position and was reassigned as Federal Minister for Water and Power which he stayed until the ouster of the PML-N government in October 1999. Defecting from the PML-N to join the Military backed PML of Mian Azhar faction in 2001 he was appointed the Secretary General of the party. Unable to contest the 2002 election because of the graduation degree restriction introduced by Pervaiz Musharraf. In his stead his son Omar Ayub Khan contested and won from his Haripur National Assembly seat, while his wife was elected MNA on the reserved women seats.
| Preceded by Sahabzada Yaqub Khan |
Foreign Minister of Pakistan 1997–1998 |
Succeeded by Sartaj Aziz |
[edit] References
- Pick, Franz, World Currency report. April 1969
- Mazari, Sherbaz 1999. A journey into disillusionment. Oxford University Press
