Yousaf Raza Gillani

Yousaf Raza Gillani

Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani also spelled Gilani (Urdu, Saraiki: یوسف رضا گیلانی; ; born 9 June 1952) is vice-chairman of the central executive committee of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He presided the country as the 16th Prime minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008 until his retroactive disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 April 2012. He first successfully stood for the 1988 parliamentary elections and had been a senior member of parliament for the Multan-IV constituency since 1988, heading the Ministry of Tourism under the government of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. After his party securing the plurality in the 1993 general elections, Gillani was nominated by the-Prime minister Benazir Bhutto to become the 15th Speaker of the National Assembly which he tenured until 16 February 1997. On 11 February 2001, Gillani was imprisoned in the infamous Adiala Jail by military court instituted under President Pervez Musharraf on the accusations and charges of corruption, and released on 7 October 2006.

In 2008, Gillani secured nomination for the office of prime minister after his party formed a coalition alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League, Awami National Party, Assembly of Islamic Clergy and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), after the 2008 general elections. He is the first prime minister from the Saraiki-speaking belt, and also has the credible distinction (thus far, the only prime minister to have achieve this milestone) for successfully presenting the all five federal budgets. As Prime minister, Gillani announced the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, rehabilitation of the troubled and war-torn tribal belt, land and agriculture reforms, and promised to reduce the federal budget deficit as well as announcing his ambitions to improve the system of education. This was followed by a new economic policy that lifted the bans on labour and students' unions and worked on the new energy and nuclear policy to tackle down the energy crises in the country. But his economic policies, without meaningful economic reforms, led to a high rise in inflation and the sharp decline in economic performance, a period referred to as "Era of Stagflation".

A consistently strong U.S.-ally prime minister, Gillani was ranked 38th most powerful person in the world by Forbes. On 26 April 2012, the Supreme Court of Pakistan convicted Gillani for violating the article 63(1) (g) of the constitution of Pakistan. The verdict was given after the Supreme Court of Pakistan found the prime minister guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against president Asif Ali Zardari, but gave him only a symbolic sentence "till the rising of the court", a sentence lasting 30 seconds. Finally on 19 June 2012, the Supreme Court disqualified and ousted Gillani from holding the prime minister office, and constitutionally, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry clarified that: "Gillani had ceased to be prime minister and (is) disqualified from membership of parliament on 26 April 2012, the date of his conviction".