Malik Meraj Khalid (; 1 February 1916 – 13 June 2003) was a Pakistani advocate, left wing

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and Marxist philosopher who served as the Caretaker prime minister of Pakistan from November 1996 until February 1997. He was noted as being one of the original philosophers and founders of the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

(PPP). Born in 1916 to a poor farming family in

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, he graduated in law from the Islamia College (Lahore) in 1942, starting his legal practice by establishing his own law firm in 1948. Inspired by the communist literature published in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, his initial public community work was aimed towards promoting

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

in his native village. In 1967, he was one of the founders of the PPP and ascended towards holding the highly important public offices. Responsible for administering and maintaining the control of the Punjab Province after the war with India in 1971, Meraj Khalid was appointed law minister in 1974 and served as the Speaker of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

in two non-consecutive terms."Meraj Khalid passes away"
''Dawn'' (newspaper), 14 June 2003, retrieved 23 May 2020 However, his tough and rigorous Hard Left ideas led to developing political differences with

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

in the 1990s, by whom he was sacked in 1996 after levelling accusations against Benazir Bhutto's spouse Asif Zardari for the murder of Murtaza Bhutto. Being appointed caretaker prime minister, Meraj Khalid then worked to rally the anti–Benazir Bhutto forces, and his efforts contributed to Nawaz Sharif and the conservatives' landslide victory in the 1997 parliamentary elections.

Early life and career beginnings

Malik Meraj Khalid was born in Dera Chahal, a small village near Burki in Lahore district, to a poor farming family belonging to the Awan tribe.Ibrahim, M. (2009) Role of Biradari System in Power Politics of Lahore: Post-Independence Period. PhD Thesis. Bahauddin Zakariya University. Available at: http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1526/1/1234S.pdf (Accessed: 12 June 2023) In-text citation: (Ibrahim, 2009, p.175) During his early life, he saw his family struggle with hardship to survive in the

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

spectrum where his family grew crops for a local feudal lord who paid less than the minimum wage set by the

British Indian Empire The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

government. However, Meraj Khalid did not abandon his school, and despite the hardship, Khalid completed his high-school and later went on to work for a feudal lord who agreed to finance his education. He was educated at Islamia College, Lahore and gained an LLB degree in 1944, from Punjab University Law College, Lahore, followed by an

Associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

in public works. Profile of Malik Meraj Khalid on The Story of Pakistan website
Published 1 June 2003, Retrieved 23 May 2020 In 1948, he began to practice law. He was elected to the Provincial Assembly of West Pakistan for the first time in 1965. In 1968, he joined the

(PPP) and was appointed President of its Lahore chapter. It was on the PPP ticket that he was successfully re-elected to the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

in 1970.

Statesmanship

Malik Meraj Khalid, famous for his gentleness and honesty, was a favourite of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the flamboyant Prime Minister of Pakistan during the 1970s. It was he who played a major role in the political career of Meraj Khalid by first appointing him as his Minister for Food and Agriculture and Under-Developed Areas in December 1971. Afterwards he was appointed Chief of the Party's Parliamentary Affairs in November 1972, and Minister of Social Welfare, Local Government and Rural Development in 1975.

Member and Speaker of National Assembly

After the execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in April 1979, he was nominated member of the PPP's Central Committee, but he eventually resigned from this position in January 1988. After once more successfully returning to the National Assembly in 1988, he was once again appointed Speaker of the National Assembly in 1988. However, he lost the subsequent elections in 1993, and remained aloof from politics for some time. During this period of solitude, he served as the Rector of International Islamic University in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

in 1997.

Interim Prime Minister

President Farooq Leghari, using the powers granted him by the Eighth Amendment to the

Constitution of Pakistan The Constitution of Pakistan ( ; ISO 15919, ISO: '' Āīn-ē-Pākistān''), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. The document guides Pakistan's law, political culture, and system. It sets out the state's outlin ...

, dismissed the government of Benazir Bhutto in November 1996 again, for corruption and politically motivated killings. Malik Meraj Khalid was asked to officiate the interim government before new elections, but as prime minister Meraj Khalid continued to live his simple life and his Lahore home too remained as accessible as ever.

Death and legacy

Malik Meraj Khalid peacefully died on 13 June 2003 at age 87 in his residence in Lahore, and was buried with full state honours in a local cemetery. He was survived by his widow and an adopted son. His obituary in ''The Guardian'' noted that "Meraj was perhaps the one Pakistani politician intensely engaged with community work while in high office, and whenever out of office, or out of favor with his party, he returned to grassroots activism, gaining respect and affection across the spectrum. Amid political extremists and Bonapartist generals, he was a model of reason".

References

External links

Chronicles Of Pakistan

A profile of Malik Meraj Khalid

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalid, Meraj 1916 births 2003 deaths Lawyers from Lahore Government Islamia College alumni Pakistani Marxists Pakistani communists Pakistani socialists Marxist writers Pakistan People's Party politicians Chief ministers of Punjab, Pakistan Agriculture ministers of Pakistan Food ministers of Pakistan Law ministers of Pakistan Pakistani sports executives and administrators Caretaker prime ministers of Pakistan Speakers of the National Assembly of Pakistan Government of Benazir Bhutto staffers and personnel Pakistani MNAs 1988–1990 Pakistani MNAs 1977 Punjab MPAs 1972–1977 Central Model School, Lahore alumni 20th-century Pakistani lawyers