Shaukat Aziz
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| Shaukat Nafs Aziz شوکت عزیز |
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 Aziz at the 2007 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. |
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| In office 20 August 2004 – 15 November 2007 |
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| President | Pervez Musharraf |
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| Preceded by | Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain |
| Succeeded by | Muhammad Mian Soomro |
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| In office 12 October 1999 – 15 November 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Ishaq Dar |
| Succeeded by | Salman Shah |
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| Born | March 6, 1949 Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan |
| Political party | Pakistan Muslim League (Q) |
| Religion | Islam |
| Pakistan |
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Shaukat Aziz (Urdu: شوکت عزیز), (born March 6, 1949 in Karachi, Pakistan) was the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 2004 to 2007. He became Finance Minister in November 1999 and was handpicked by President Musharraf for the position of Prime Minister after the resignation of Zafarullah Khan Jamali on June 6, 2004. He became Prime Minister on August 28, 2004 and served until November 15, 2007. He became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to complete a full term in office.
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[edit] Education
Aziz attended Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi and Abbottabad Public School, Abbottabad. He passed his Intermediate from Government Islamia College, Kasur. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Gordon College, Rawalpindi, in 1967. He obtained an MBA Degree in 1969 from Pakistani Business School IBA, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. It was during his studies at the IBA that he secured an internship at Citibank and began his banking career.
[edit] Career
[edit] Citibank executive
'In 1969'he joined Citibank, serving in various countries, including Pakistan, Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Singapore. He served as Citibank's head of Corporate and Investment Banking for the Asia Pacific region and the CEEMEA region (Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa); as Corporate Planning Officer, Citicorp; as Citibank's Chief Country Officer in Malaysia and, later, in Jordan. He has been a board member of Citibank subsidiaries, including Saudi American Bank, Citicorp Islamic Bank, and of several non-profit organizations[1].
[edit] Finance Minister
On 26th November 1999 at about 10 pm, few days after the coup, while addressing a gathering of PakPAC, a political lobbying sub-body of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA), Musharraf stated in his dinner speech that Shaukat Aziz has come to Pakistan with forty other financial experts who have offered free service to revive the Pakistani economy. Then he asked Shaukat Aziz to stand up and introduce himself to audience [2]. In a 2007 TV interview, Aziz said he was called from the USA[citation needed].
In November 1999 Aziz became the government's Minister of Finance with responsibility for Finance, Economic Affairs, Statistics, Planning and Development, and Revenue Divisions. As Minister of Finance Aziz also headed the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Investment, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, and the Cabinet Committee on Privatization.
In 2001 Aziz was declared 'Finance Minister of the Year' by Euromoney and Banker's Magazine.
[edit] Prime Minister
Aziz was named by the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) as the next Prime Minister after Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali resigned on June 6, 2004.
The post was held by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain while Aziz fulfilled the constitutional requirement of securing a seat in the lower house of parliament. Aziz ran from two constituencies, Tharparkar-I in Sindh, and Attock- III, located west of Islamabad[3]. While campaigning on July 29, 2004 Aziz survived an assassination attempt in the small town of Fateh Jang in Attock district. A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a car in which Aziz was travelling, killing his chauffeur and eight others. However, Aziz continued campaigning and won from both constituencies. Since he could retain only one seat, he immediately vacated his Tharparkar seat, preferring to represent Attock, where he had won by 76,156 votes to 29,497.
Aziz was elected Prime Minister by Parliament on August 27, 2004, by a vote of 191 to 151 in the National Assembly of Pakistan, and was sworn in on August 28, 2004. He retained his position as Minister of Finance, and he presided over an unprecedented boom in the Pakistani economy.
Aziz left office on November 16, 2007, at the end of the parliamentary term and became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan who left seat after completion of parliamentary term of five years.[4] His party, Pakistan Muslim League (Q), however, refused to offer him a ticket for contesting the 2008 National Assembly Elections, a mandatory requirement for the second term in the premier post.
[edit] Financial Scandals
His tenure as the prime minister was marred by a number of financial scandals and wrongdoings.
[edit] Steel Mills Case
In 2007, the privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills by Aziz's government was challenged in the Supreme court. The apex court ruled against the government, noting that the sell off to a group associated with Arif Habib, former client and friend of Aziz, was done in "indecent haste" [5]. In 2008, the Chairman of Steel Mills, General Abdul Qayyum, during the privatization, who was also a long term friend of Pervez Musharraf told in a TV interview [6] how the Mills was sold in throw away prices casting doubts on the entire bidding process.
[edit] Wheat Crisis
Towards the end of his tenure, his government cooked up wheat production figures, which forced the Export department to ease restriction on the export of surplus wheat. Later the figures proved to be fabricated, causing acute shortage of wheat in the country and resulting in the loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. His own colleagues, members of his cabinet, and party members blamed him for the scandal.
[edit] Rift with the Party Members
His party members refused to bail him out during the wheat crisis, and he was denied a party ticket for the upcoming elections. He was criticized by his cabinet members in public for his anti-people policies.
[edit] Energy Crisis
In 2008, the country started experiencing the worst of power breakdowns. It was later revealed that during his stint in power, not a single megawatt of energy production was added to the existing system. Privatization of KESC was also blamed by the experts, where his government failed to look after that the new management ensures consumer rights. Result was a highly intermittent power supply to its consumers, with a two hour of breakdown followed by each hour of supply.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Profile by BBC dated July 30, 2004
- The Turnaround Wizard - Asia Inc. cover story, March 4, 2004
- Asiasource interview of Shaukat Aziz dated April 20, 2004
- http://www.infopak.gov.pk/primeminister.aspx
- A conversation with Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz A South China Morning Post podcast featuring an interview with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, dated 28 March 2007
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Ishaq Dar |
Finance Minister of Pakistan 6 November 1999 - 15 November 2007 |
Succeeded by Salman Shah |
| Preceded by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain |
Prime Minister of Pakistan 20 August 2004 - 15 November 2007 |
Succeeded by Muhammad Mian Soomro |
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