Mamnoon Hussain ( ur, ; 22 December 1941 – 14 July 2021) was a Pakistani politician and industrialist who served as the 12th

president of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Governor of Sindh The governor of Sindh is the appointed head of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The office of the governor as the head of the province is largely a ceremonial position; the executive powers lie with the chief minister and the chief secretary of S ...

in June 1999 by President

Rafiq Tarar Muhammad Rafiq Tarar (; ur, ; 2 November 1929 – 7 March 2022) was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the ninth president of Pakistan from January 1998 until his resignation in June 2001, and prior to that as a senator from Punja ...

; but was removed from the post in October 1999 due to the 1999 military coup d'état. Hussain was then nominated for the presidency by the PMLN in July 2013 and was elected through an indirect

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

. Hussain took over the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by ...

after an

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

administered by the Chief Justice of Pakistan on 9 September 2013. Hussain maintained a low-key profile as president and his role was rarely seen in the nation's politics, although he was involved in a

polio eradication Polio eradication, the permanent global cessation of circulation by the poliovirus and hence elimination of the poliomyelitis (polio) it causes, is the aim of a multinational public health effort begun in 1988, led by the World Health Organiz ...

program.

Personal life

Mamnoon Hussain was born in

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1941 to Ustad Zafar Hussain. His family's ancestral occupation was in the trade of leather and footwear. They moved to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

in 1949. After being homeschooled, Hussain enrolled in the Karachi University where he studied for the Commerce degree. After graduating from the Karachi University in 1963, he entered in the

master's program A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi, and obtained his MBA degree in 1965. Initially supporting and strengthening his father's business, he later founded his own textile company in Karachi. He later joined the center-right

Pakistan Muslim League The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country. The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’ ...

in 1970, working as a party worker. In 1997, he earned public notability as a business leader when he was elected as president of the

Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) is the Chamber of Commerce for Karachi, Pakistan. They aim to improve Pakistan's business environment and economic well-being, especially in Karachi. They seek to provide advocacy and opportu ...

, serving until May 1999.

Political career

Hussain began to take interest in national politics in 1968 when he became chairman and joined the

(PML) led by Nurul Amin. Initially, an activist with reformist zeal in 1968, Hussain became joint secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League's Karachi chapter. In 1993, he officially joined the PML(N) led by

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

and was appointed the Finance Secretary of the PML(N) in

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

. In June 1999, he became the

Governor of Sindh The governor of Sindh is the appointed head of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The office of the governor as the head of the province is largely a ceremonial position; the executive powers lie with the chief minister and the chief secretary of S ...

, but his term was cut short on 12 October 1999 when the PML(N) government was ousted in a military coup. His credentials as a politician devoted to the cause of democracy were established when he became a political prisoner after raising his voice against the military regime of

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

. Azhar Haroon, the former president of the

Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) is the Chamber of Commerce for Karachi, Pakistan. They aim to improve Pakistan's business environment and economic well-being, especially in Karachi. They seek to provide advocacy and opportu ...

, said: "He had no political affiliation until 1999 but his polite discourse and professional ability impressed

, who appointed him as the Governor of Sindh". He was a relatively lesser-known figure, described as loyal to Nawaz Sharif, and was elected as President of Pakistan as the official nominee of the PML-N in the July 2013 presidential election. Hussain secured 432 votes and his only rival

Wajihuddin Ahmed Wajihuddin Ahmed ( ur, ; born 1 December 1938) is a retired senior justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, human rights activist, and former professor of law at the Sindh Muslim Law College. Prior to be elevated as Senior Justice of the S ...

received 77. He was sworn in on 9 September 2013 in a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, attended by mainstream political and military leadership alongside foreign dignitaries, media personnel and his close relatives. At the time of assuming the office of president, he became the second oldest president of Pakistan. His term for the presidency ended on 8 September 2018.

Criticism of his own party

On 19 October 2017 while giving a speech at the USTB, Hussain blasted the leadership of his own party saying that the government had taken a loan of 14,800 billion PKR but no new schools or hospitals had been built in the past 4 years. The speech was ignored and not broadcast on mainstream media.

Death

In February 2020, Hussain was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

and was under treatment. On 14 July 2021, he died in

, aged 79.

References

External links