Gohar Ayub Khan

Gohar Ayub Khan (born January 1937) is a Pakistani politician and the son of the late Pakistani President Field Marshal Ayub Khan. A Hindko speaking Tareen Pashtun, he was born in Rehana, Haripur. Khan studied at Army Burn Hall College, Abbottabad, and Saint Mary's Academy, Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi. Later, he graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, U.K.. Thereafter, he joined the Pakistan Army, from which he resigned as a captain in 1962. He began to serve as his fathers ADC during that period travelling with him on several foreign trips.

Political role

His role in Karachi after his father's election in the allegedly rigged 1965 Presidential elections against Fatima Jinnah is a subject of criticism by many writers. Gohar Ayub it is said to have led a victory parade right into the heartland of opposition territory in Karachi, in a blatantly provocative move and the civil administrations failure to stop the rally led to a fierce clashes between opposing groups with many locals being killed [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941860,00.html?iid=chix-sphere A Sorry Beginning - Time] ] [Mazari, Sherbaz 1999. A journey into disillusionment. Oxford University Press] . Gohar Ayub also faced criticisms during that time on questions of family corruption and cronyism through his business links with his father-in-law retired Lt. General Habibullah Khan Khattak. One Western commentator in 1969 estimated Gohar Ayub's personal wealth at the time at $4 million dollars, while his families wealth was put in the range of $10-$20 million dollars [Pick, Franz, World Currency report. April 1969] .

Gohar Ayub had been elected five times to the National Assembly of Pakistan from his home constituency. He was first elected in March 1965 as a Muslim League candidate. In 1977, he contested the National Assembly seat from Peshawar Jail and was elected on the ticket of Asghar Khan's Tehrik-e-Istiqlal party through the aggressive campaigning of his wife. Gohar Ayub Khan has served as senior vice president of the Muslim League and was elected Speaker of the National Assembly after the 1990 general election, remaining in this post until 1993 elections. After re-election in 1993 Gohar Ayub became deputy leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. After the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz victory in 1997, he was appointed Foreign Minister by Nawaz Sharif. In 1998 Gohar Ayub resigned his position and was reassigned as Federal Minister for Water and Power which he stayed until the ouster of the PML-N government in October 1999. Defecting from the PML-N to join the military-backed PML of Mian Azhar faction in 2001 he was appointed the Secretary General of the party. Unable to contest the 2002 election because of the graduation degree restriction introduced by Pervez Musharraf. In instead his son Omar Ayub Khan contested and won from his Haripur District seat, while his wife was elected MNA on the reserved women seats. His strongest political opponent in his constituency has been former Chief Minister Raja Sikander Zaman. His son Raja Aamir Zaman defeated Omar Ayub for District Nazim seat in 2002.

Accusation against Sam Maneckshaw

In May 2007, Gohar claimed that retired Indian Army Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw had sold some of Indian Army secrets to Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 for 20,000 rupees, but his accusations were dismissed by the Indian defence establishment who claimed "Gohar Khan is a madcap, with a history of making dubious claims and exaggerating. Don’t give credence to him." [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Military_livid_at_Pak_slur_on_Sam_Bahadur/articleshow/2015324.cms Military livid at Pak slur on Sam Bahadur. Times of India. 8th May 2007] ] [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Revenge_for_Manekshaws_role_in_71_war/articleshow/2015949.cms Revenge for Manekshaw's role in '71 war? Times of India. 8th May. 2007] ]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box |title=Speaker of National Assembly
years=04 April, 1990 - 17 October, 1993
before=Malik Meraj Khalid
after=Yousaf Raza Gillani

succession box | title=Foreign Minister of Pakistan| years=25 February, 1997 - 6 August, 1998
before=Sahabzada Yaqub Khan| after=Sartaj Aziz|

References