Muhammad Rafiq Tarar

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Muhammad Rafiq Tarar محمد رفیق تارڑ

11th President of Pakistan
In office 1 January 1998 – 20 June 2001
Prime Minister	Nawaz Sharif
Preceded by	Wasim Sajjad
Succeeded by	Pervez Musharraf

Born	November 2, 1929 (1929-11-02) (age 78) Gujranwala, Punjab, British India
Political party	Pakistan Muslim League (N)
Religion	Sunni Islam

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar (Urdu: محمد رفیق تارڑ) (b. November 2, 1929) was President of Pakistan from January 1, 1998 until June 20, 2001. During Pakistan's independence in 1947, Rafiq Tarar performed voluntary duty as a relief worker in camps set up by Muslim Students Federation for refugees, migrating from India to Pakistan.

1 Political career
2 President of Pakistan
3 Retirement
4 External links

[edit] Political career

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar graduated from the Islamia College in Gujranwala, in 1949. In 1951, Mr. Tarar secured his Law Degree from Law College, Lahore. During the same year he was enrolled as a Pleader. He also was enrolled as an Advocate in the Lahore High Court during October 1955. After graduating, he established a practice in Gujranwala before rising to the position of Chairman of the Punjab Labor Court in 1970. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court four years later since he started. Earlier, during his days as Judge of the Lahore High Court, he also served as member of the Pakistan Election Commission. Justice Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court in 1991, from which he retired in November 1994 on attaining the age of 65 years.

[edit] President of Pakistan

Due to his retirement in March 1997, Tarar moved from a legal career to a political career. He was elected as member of the Senate with the PML(N) Party and later in the same year he was elected as the President of Pakistan on December 31, 1997.

During his presidency, Tarar was mostly a figurehead ruler. The Presidency of Pakistan's powers had been slowly removed over the years, culminating in 1997 Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan which removed virtually all remaining reserve powers, making the office almost entirely symbolic in nature as per the true spirit of the Pakistani constitution.

[edit] Retirement

Tarar was not removed from office when Pervez Musharraf seized control of the Pakistani government in 1999. While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was deposed, Tarar was allowed to remain in office until 2001, at which point Musharraf assumed the presidency in an attempt to both gain legitimacy and restructure Pakistan's model of government to a more presidential system rule.