Minister of Finance
According to A.Q. Khan's memoir, the ouster of Zulfikar Bhutto was notably a major event in his life. The time military coup, codename: Fair Play, initiated against Bhutto, Ghulam Ishaq was preparing to meet with Bhutto to present the assessment report on the enrichment project. Ghulam Ishaq came in initial state of shock when he received a call from the General Headquarters (GHQ) that a coup had been initiated under chief of army staff General Zia-ul-Haq to oust Bhutto. He was asked to report back to GHQ immediately to meet with chief of army staff. At this meeting, Ghulam Ishaq reportedly told the chief of army staff and top military leadership, that "this action was going to harm the country, but since it could not be reversed, they should do their best to salvage whatever they could.
In 1978, Zia promoted Ghulam Ishaq to Ministry of Finance and appointed him as Finance minister. Zia left the economic management to a team of technocrats working under Ghulam Ishaq Khan, and during time time, Ghulam Ishaq was the chairman of Planning Commission, Economic Coordination Committee and the Executive Committee of the Space Research Council. Ultimately, he was entrusted with the task of managing and controlling the national economy and the Private sector. Ghulam Ishaq supervised the successful implementation of market corporatization and remains supported economic Islamization by changes in the fiscal and banking systems. He played a vital and important role in shaping and implementing the economic policy, including managing the public state enterprises.
Ghulam Ishaq successfully campaigned and won the 1985 parliamentary elections for the Senate Secretariat. After the controversial and mysterious aviation accident occurred in Bahawalpur, Ghulam Ishaq appeared in national television where he announced the death of General Zia-ul-Haq. In 1988, Ghulam Ishaq became acting President in accordance with the Constitutional rules of succession, and was formally elected to the position in December of that year.
Read more about this topic: Ghulam Ishaq Khan
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