ISLAMABAD, Aug. 20, Reuter: Acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan has been Pakistan’s most successful bureaucrat and a great survivor never out of a government job in nearly half a century.

He was a close confidant of President Mohammad ZiaulHaq, whose death in a mysterious plane crash on Wednesday pushed him to the top office at a critical time,

Ishaq Khan, 73, enjoyed the trust of all rulers whom he served, whether Military Dictators or Politician’s, surviving occasional purges of the bureaucracy.

But his association was the closest with Zia, who ruled for 11 years after seizing power in 1977.

Ishaq Khan is the Chairman of the Senate (upper house of parliament), a position that under the constitution made him acting President after Zia’s death on Wednesday in a suspicious aircraft disaster.

Zia, who ruled for 11 years, was buried in Islamabad on Saturday.

Ishaq made a modest start in his career as a Provincial Civil Servant in the North West frontier. He rose to be Pakistan’s top bureaucrat before moving into a political post under Zia.

Although a science graduate, he acquired a reputation as Zia’s economic wizard during seven years as financial minister.

Born in a modest Pashtun family of the frontier province’s bannu district on January 20, 1915, he joined the provincial civil service in 1940.

Independence and Pakistan’s creation from the partition of then British India in 1947 gave him the chance to come close to political authority when he became Secretary to the Provincial Chief Minister.

In 1961, then Military Dictator Field Marshal Ayub Khan made him head of the state-run water and power development authority which manages the nation’s electricity and irrigation projects. Six years later he was appointed to the key post of the Federal Government’s financial secretary.

He became Cabinet Secretary in 1970, another important job that kept him close to the activities of another military ruler, General Yahya Khan.

He ran the State (Central) Bank of Pakistan for four years from 19711975 later to be named by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as the Defence Ministry Secretary General,

That position brought Ishaq Khan close to Zia whom Bhutto appointed Chief of the Army Staff in early 1976.

Critics say Zia was in close touch with Ishaq Khan when making the July 5, 1977 coup that toppled Bhutto, who was later executed on disputed charges of conspiring to murder a political ‘opponent.

Ishaq Khan was promoted by Zia after the coup to the newly created post of Secretary General in Chief, which gave him Ministerial status.

Zia later made him his adviser for planning and development and then Financial Minister in 1979, a post he held until becoming a Senate Member in the 1985 elections which political parties were barred from contesting.

As Financial Minister, Ishaq Khan masterminded the economic part of Zia’s campaign to “islamise” Pakistani society, including the introduction of interest free banking.

With Zia’s backing, Ishaq Khan ‘was later elected as Senate Chairman so he could act for him whenever the President went abroad.

On the expiry of a three year first team, Ishaq Khan was reelected to the Senate and its chairmanship in March 1988 five months before he was unexpectedly to succeed Zia,

Ishaq Khan can remain acting President until 30 days after the scheduled November 16 National elections, when a new parliament and the four provincial assemblies must elect a new permanent President.

The election date was set by Zia, and Ishaq Khan has said he will keep it. But he has not given his mind whether he will also stick to Zia’s controversial decision to bar political parties from putting up candidates.

He is married with several children.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 26, 1988