Ghulam Ishaq Khan served as the seventh president (1988-93) of Pakistan, in a period when democracy faced serious challenges. He went down in history as one who, more often than not, had a strained relationship with the Prime Minister’s Office and was considered a close confidant of the establishment. He had entered Indian Civil Service at a junior rank and opted for Pakistani bureaucracy after 1947, stepping up through various positions such as WAPDA chairman, finance secretary, governor of the State Bank, defence secretary, finance minister and Senate chairman before he was elected as president of Pakistan. His term as president was the bridge between a decade of Zia’s dictatorship and the subsequent decade of democracy, which became a game of musical chairs for prime ministers with stunted tenures due to assertive presidents and repeated interventions by the presidency.

Khan’s rise was owing to his professional competence as a bureaucrat. He was seen as a financial wizard and known for an austere approach to economic management. Having already served as governor of the State Bank and defence secretary under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he was retained by Zia-ul Haq and elevated to the position of finance minister. He was credited with effective economic management which witnessed robust GDP growth once the country started receiving external financing through the Afghan War, starting in 1979, and the flow of remittances from Pakistani workers sent by the Bhutto administration to the emerging oil economies of the Middle East picked up. Khan emerged as a trusted and close lieutenant of Zia. When the Senate of Pakistan was restored in 1985, he was appointed as its chairman and served three years (1985-88) in that role.

It was by dint of his relationship of trust with Zia-ul Haq that he had clinched the Senate chair. In the absence of the president, the chairman had to act as president, and Zia could not trust many people. This position enabled Khan to become acting president when Zia died in an air crash on August 17, 1988. He was elected as president on December 13 the same year as a consensus candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad. In the ensuing years, he gave tough time to leaders of both these political forces.

Khan built his nationalist credentials through economic management, being hawkish against communist tendencies in Afghanistan and his stand during the deteriorating relations with the US in the backdrop of the Pressler Amendment. The most significant, however, was his close association with and financing of the country’s nuclear weapons programme. Hailing from bureaucracy, he consistently operated as the custodian of the interests of bureaucrats and maintained trust with the establishment. His presidency derived strength from the civil-military bureaucracy, not the political class or the political ethos.

It was during Khan’s presidency that the concept of a ‘troika’ of power was established and became operative. The troika included the offices of prime minister, president and the chief of army staff. Being a facilitator of military interests, he ensured that the troika continued to operate smoothly. Two players of this troika – the president and army chief – cooperated with each other but remained hostile towards the office of the prime minister and the political class. After the 1988 plane crash, Gen Mirza Aslam Beg had been elevated to the position of army chief and Lt Gen Hamid was the head of Inter-Services Intelligence. Both had cordial relations with Khan.

Hailing from bureaucracy, he consistently operated as the custodian of the interests of bureaucrats and maintained trust with the establishment. His presidency derived strength from the civil-military bureaucracy, not the political class or political ethos.

Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, an iconic champion of democracy, contested the election against Khan in 1988. He was curiously elbowed aside by PPP and IJI leaders. The 1988 general elections were held under the supervision of Khan. He is generally credited with holding mostly fair and free elections. However, it is alleged that the 1990 general elections, also under his supervision, were massively rigged. In 1990, he had dismissed Benazir Bhutto’s government after just 20 months, on charges of bad governance and rampant corruption. He seemed to favour the IJI and established a cell under Roedad Khan to manage elections in its favour. Installing Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, the IJI leader, as caretaker prime minister was also seen as a partisan action. Nawaz Sharif was elected prime minister in 1990 on an IJI platform but his government was also dismissed by Khan on similar charges when he tried to be assertive. After Gen Asif Nawaz’s sudden death following a heart attack, Gen Waheed Kakar became the army chief. Kakar was Khan’s choice. Differences soon developed between the prime minister and the president and resulted in acrimony. Khan created a faction led by Hamid Nasir Chatha and Manzoor Wattoo within the IJI in the Punjab. The office of the president became a centre of ‘palace intrigues’ and conspiracies against the prime minister. The tensions turned into open confrontation when Sharif appeared on TV and challenged the presidency. Khan dismissed the assembly on April 18, 1993. It is alleged that Khan had wanted another term but Sharif had not agreed to it.

A caretaker government was installed under Balkh Sher Mazari as prime minister and Asif Ali Zardari was inducted as a minister in his cabinet. Zardari’s inclusion in the cabinet bogged down the narrative of corruption against him that had been promoted aggressively by Khan’s presidency. In May 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that Khan had exceeded his constitutional powers and restored the Sharif government. Nonetheless, the Punjab became ungovernable and there were severe tension between the presidency and prime minister. Following alleged intervention by Gen Kakar, Khan went on extraordinary leave and Sharif dissolved the assemblies and called fresh elections.

The Veena Hayat assault case tarnished Khan’s image when his son-in-law Irfanullah Marwat was alleged to have orchestrated the attack. After his exit from politics, Khan concentrated on establishing the GIKI, a state-of-the-art educational institution of engineering and technology. Khan had earned prestige during his long bureaucratic career but on the democratic front, he failed to leave an enviable legacy.

The writer heads the History Department at University of Sargodha. He has worked as a research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com His X handle: @AbrarZahoor1