Liaquat Ali Jatoi

Liaquat Ali Jatoi (Urdu: ﻟﻴﺎﻗﺖ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺟﺗﻮﺋﻰ ) (born on January 5, 1948) is a Pakistani politician who was Chief Minister of Sindh during 1997-1998.

Jatoi belongs to Dadu District in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. He belongs to a landlord family of Sindh with large land holdings in Dadu District.

Education

Jatoi acquired his high school education from Cadet College Petaro, where he studied from 1961-1964 and completed his Matriculation. He completed his Masters in Political Science from University of Sindh in 1970.

Political career

Liaquat Jatoi was first elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1977. However, this Assembly was dissolved by Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in a bloodless coup within a few weeks of the elections, which led to the execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. During Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s rule, Jatoi served as member of the Federal Council (Majlis-e-Shoora) in 1980-81.

Jatoi later on participated in the elections of 1985, 1990 and 1997, when he was elected to the Sindh Provincial Assembly as a Member. In 1990, he was chosen as the Provincial Minister for Finance, Excise and Taxation, Government of Sindh. This was the beginning of his alliance with Pakistan Muslim League headed by Nawaz Sharif.

After the elections of 1997, Liaquat Ali Jatoi was chosen as the Chief Minister of Sindh. He served in this position until the end of October 1998, when Governor’s Rule was imposed in Sindh due to the law and order situation.

In 2002, Jatoi was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan and was inducted into the Federal Cabinet as a Minister. Initially he held the portfolio of Minister of Industries, and was later on made the Minister for Water and Power. During this period, Jatoi joined the pro-Pervez Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Q). He remained a key ally of President Pervez Musharraf.

With the growing unpopularity of the Musharraf regime in 2007, Liaquat Jatoi also became highly unpopular in his own province of Sindh. When Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007, the people of his own Dadu District burnt down Jatoi’s home.

This unpopularity was reflected in the elections that were held at the beginning of 2008 when Liaquat Jatoi was defeated for the first time in elections at all levels.