Muhammad Rafiq Tarar

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar (ⁱ//;English IPA:rəfɪ̈kʰ ʔɑr(ə)ɹ (Urdu: محمد رفیق تارڑ‎; b. 2 November 1929), is a retired senior justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the ninth President of Pakistan, serving from 1998 until resigning in the favour of Pervez Musharraf in 2001.^[2]

By profession, a jurist, legal and Islamic scholar, Tarar had a long career in the court system of Pakistan. By virtue of the extraconstitutional order in 2001, Tarar was replaced by Pervez Musharraf after tendering resignation.^[3]

Biography

Early life and education

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was born in Pirkot village in Ghakhar Mandi,^[1] a rural locality in Gujranwala District of Punjab, of the British India on 2 November 1929. His family was a practising Deobandi-sect of Islam.^[4] After graduating from Islamia College, Tarar enrolled at the Punjab University where he received BA in Islamic Studies in 1949. During his college years, Tarar was an activist of Muslim League and an admirer Jinnah.^[5]

During the independence of Pakistan, Tarar performed voluntary duty as a relief worker in camps set up by Muslim Students Federation for Indian emigrants, migrating from the riot-torn India to Pakistan.^[2] Tarar enrolled at the Law College of Punjab University and graduated with the LLB in 1951.^[2]

After graduation, he enrolled as a Pleader in Lahore High Court.^[2]

Judicial career

In 1951, he enrolled as a Pleader in Lahore High Court.^[2] He also enrolled as an Advocate in the Lahore High Court in October 1955.^[2] In 1960s, he established his own law firm in Gujranwala, and passed the Bar exams to be elevated as judge in District Courts and session judge.^[2]

In 1971, he became Chairman of the Punjab Labor Court and appointed as a judge at Lahore High Court in October 1974 and later became the Chief Justice of the same court in 1989.^[2] Earlier, during his days as Judge of the Lahore High Court, he also served as a member of the Election Commission of Pakistan where he represented Punjab.^[2] In 1991, Tara was appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court in January 1991, from which he retired in November 1994 on attaining the age of 65 years.^[2]

Following his retirement from the Judiciary in March 1997, Tarar moved from a legal to a political career, joining the PML(N).^[2] After securing the party ticket, he was elected as Senator in 1997.^[2]

President of Pakistan

After Farooq Leghari's resignation in 1997, he was nominated as a candidate for the President of Pakistan.^[6] On 31 December 1997, in an indirect election, Tarar was elected by a huge margin,^[7] getting 374 of 457 votes of the Electoral College against Aftab Mirani of PPP (a PML(N)'s rival) who got 31 votes, and Muhammad Shirani of JUI(S) who got 22 votes.^[2] This was the largest margin in such elections.^[8][2]

Upon becoming President, Tarar was an unassuming and merely ceremonial figurehead who kept a low profile, and avoided news media, and he remained a devoted servant and loyalist of the Sharif family.^[2] He readily signed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan that limited the powers of the presidency.^[9]

The President of Pakistan's powers had thus been slowly removed over the years, culminating in the 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.^[10]

Tarar did not endorse the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état by the Pakistani military which elevated General Pervez Musharraf, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, since he was an appointee of the Nawaz Sharif-regime.^[2] The Pakistani military thus decided not to retain Tarar as the President for his full term of five years, given his partisan attitude.^[2] On 21 June 2001, General Musharraf who acted as Chief Executive in capacity, enforced the Legal Framework Order, 2002 which prompted Tarar to resign .

Some people in Pakistan believe that Tarar did not resign but rather was forced to do so by General Musharraf as he read the paragraph: "Mr. Muhammad Rafiq Tarar has ceased to hold the office of the President with immediate effect."^[3]

Retirement

Tarar retired from the national politics and settled in Lahore.^[3] He retained a good friendship with Nawaz Sharif and is a close retainer of the Sharif family.^[2] His ex-daughter in law, Saira Tarar, is a member of the Third Sharif ministry, serving in Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination.^[11]

References

Bibliography

• Zakaria, Rafiq (2001). The Man who Divided India: An Insight Into Jinnah's Leadership and Its Aftermath. New Delhi, India: Popular Prakashan. p. 282. ISBN 817154892X.  |access-date= requires |url= (help)
• Chitkara, M.G. (2001). "§Muhammad Rafiq Tarar". Indo-Pak Relations: Challenges Before New Millennium (googlebooks) (1 ed.). New Delhi, India: APH Publishing. p. 254. ISBN 8176482722. Retrieved 28 January 2015. 
• Jones, Owen Bennette (2003). "§The 1999 Coup". Pakistan: Eye of the Storm (google books). Texas, U.S: Yale University Press. p. 342. ISBN 0300101473. Retrieved 28 January 2015. 
• Preston, Ian (2003). "§Pakistan". A Political Chronology of Central, South and East Asia (googlebooks) (1 ed.). London [u.k]: Psychology Press. ISBN 1857431146. Retrieved 28 January 2015. 

External links

• Muhammad Rafiq Tarar profile Story of Pakistan
• Biography of Rafiq Tarrar (Ex-President of Pakistan) on YouTube
• Concern in Pakistan over Presidential nominee BBC article, 16 December 1997
• Tarar sworn in as Pakistani president BBC article, January 1998

Presidents of Pakistan (List) Mirza Ayub Yahya Bhutto Chaudhry Zia Ghulam Ishaq Sajjad (Acting) Leghari Sajjad (Acting) Tarar Musharraf Soomro (Acting) Zardari Hussain Italics indicate military rulers