Farhatullah Babar
| Parliamentarian Farhatullah Babar | |
|---|---|
| Spokesperson of Presidential Office | |
| In office 9 September 2008 – 9 September 2013 | |
| President | Asif Ali Zardari |
| Prime Minister | Yousaf Raza Gillani |
| Preceded by | Major-General Rashid Qureshi |
| Majority | Pakistan Peoples Party |
| President of Pakistan Engineering Council | |
| In office 1983–1994 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Farhatullah Baber Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province (now-Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, West-Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) |
| Nationality |  Pakistan |
| Political party | Pakistan Peoples Party |
| Residence | Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory |
| Alma mater | University of Engineering and Technology of Peshawar (B.Eng and M.Eng.) University of Peshawar (B.A. and M.A.) |
| Occupation | Technocrat |
| Profession | Civil engineer |
| Cabinet | Government of Yousaf Raza Gillani |
| Religion | Islam |
| Fields | Civil Engineering |
| Institutions | Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) |
Farhatullah Babar (Urdu: فرحت اللہ بابر ) is a Pakistani technocrat, left-wing statesman, civil engineer, and former press secretary of the former President Asif Zardari.
Prior to this appointment, Babar was the senator of Pakistan Peoples Party for the Senate from 2003 till 2006; he earned public limelight after giving criticism to the government Prime minister Shaukat Aziz and President Pervez Musharraf. He is also an influential engineering figure and previously served as the President of Pakistan Engineering Council for a decade, known for improving the engineering practices in the country.
Education
Farhatullah Baber was born in urban neighborhood of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, to an ethnic working class Pashtun family. After graduating from local high school, Babar enrolled and admitted at the Peshawar University to study arts and literature in 1959. Babar earned B.A. (with honors) in Pushto language and in the Fine Arts in 1963.
The same year, Babar pursued his career in engineering after admitting at the University of Engineering and Technology of Peshawar (UET Peshawar). In 1965, Babar earned B.E. in Civil Engineering in 1965, and followed by his ME in civil engineering, in 1967, from University of Engineering and Technology of Peshawar. In 1981, he did a one year long course in French Language and received a diploma in 1981.
He has been a president and chairperson of PR Management, PIM Karachi, Pakistan Engineering Council (1983), Certificate, Pakistan Computer Bureau Islamabad (1994), Journalism and Mass Communication, Information Academy Islamabad.
Baber as engineer
After graduation from UET Peshawar in engineering, Babar joined the engineering staff of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in 1970. He researched in the Directorate for Science Services (DSS) of PAEC and performed engineering tasks in projects relating the building construction of nuclear power plants in the country.
He also played an important political role in Pakistan's nuclear safety policy. He was a close friend of former PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan. He wrote numerous articles about History of Nuclear Pakistan, in which he paid a heavy tribute to Munir Ahmad Khan and dr. Ishfaq Ahmad. On late October 2001, when the nuclear scandal came in news which resulted in arrests of Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and dr. Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. His efforts were involved not to interrogated the scientists too harshly where he met repeatedly with Army officials to make a way to release the detained scientists. On August 2007, Babar paid a visit to a families of dr. Chadhry Abdul Majeed and Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood in which he said:
"Dr. Majeed and Eng. Mahmood has been wronged by the government and a signal has been sent to the Pakistani scientist that they would have to defend themselves in any eventuality which becomes too hot to handle for the government."
Petitions for disqualification
On September 17, 2007, Benazir Bhutto accused Pervez Musharraf's allies of pushing Pakistan to crisis by refusal to restore democracy and share power. A nine-member panel of Supreme Court judges deliberated on 6 petitions (including Jamaat-e-Islami's, Pakistan's largest Islamic group) for disqualification of Musharraf as presidential candidate. Bhutto stated that her party may join other opposition groups, including Nawaz Sharif's. Attorney General of Pakistan Malik Mohammed Qayyum stated that, pendente lite, the Election Commission was "reluctant" to announce the schedule for the presidential vote. Bhutto's party's Farhatullah Babar stated that the Constitution could bar Musharraf from being elected again because he holds the army chief's post. "As Gen. Musharraf is disqualified from contesting for President, he has prevailed upon the Election Commission to arbitrarily and illegally tamper with the Constitution of Pakistan."[1]