From fending off corruption allegations to being named ‘Raja Rental’, Raja Pervez Ashraf has come a long way as a senior figure in Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Ashraf’s election to the position of prime minister came at a time when the state’s institutions appeared to be at loggerheads. Despite corruption allegations and the uncertainty over his rule, Ashraf led the PPP-led coalition government to the end of its tenure on March 16, 2013, making history as the first democratically-elected government to complete its term.
Ashraf hails from the town of Gujjar Khan in Punjab. He was born in 1950 in Sindh’s Sanghar region where his family owned agricultural land. After graduating from Sindh University in 1970, he invested in a shoe factory with his brothers. The venture did not work out and he decided to invest in real estate. This led to considerable success. Ashraf is married to Nusrat Pervez Ashraf and has four children.
Active in national politics since 1988, Ashraf lost repeated parliamentary elections until the 2002 and 2008 polls. In both the elections, he came to represent the NA-51 (Rawalpindi-II) constituency. Before becoming prime minister, he was appointed federal minister during the recent PPP-led government (2008-2013) for the portfolios of water and power and information technology.
It was his tenure as minister for water and power that has been surrounded by controversy, with allegations of corruption and receiving kickbacks continuing to haunt him. He has repeatedly denied these charges. Ashraf resigned from the water and power ministry in 2011.
After Yousuf Raza Gilani’s ouster from the post of prime minister, PPP nominated Ashraf for the slot. He was elected prime minister on June 22, 2012.
Speculation was rife throughout his short tenure as premier that he would not be able to complete his term and would likely be ousted over corruption charges. The Supreme Court had also issued arrest orders against him in the rental power projects case. However, the arrest did not come about and Ashraf managed to sail through as prime minister to the end. He was recently elected PPP’s secretary-general in the intra-party polls. — Research and text by Saher Baloch
