[ShahRukh]

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad


Mr Gillani comes from a family of Punjab landowners
By his own admission, Pakistan's Prime Minister-designate Yusuf Raza Gillani, has not been one of the "good boys" of President Pervez Musharraf's regime.

The regime tried to coerce him into joining many of his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) colleagues in switching sides.

But Mr Gillani refused to do a deal with Mr Musharraf and his loyalty is much admired within his party.

He went to jail in 2001, serving five years following a conviction over illegal government appointments.

This was during his term as Speaker of parliament between 1993-96.

The sentence was passed by an anti-corruption court formed by President Musharraf as part of what he termed measures to cleanse politics. His opponents say it was a means of intimidating and coercing their members to join his government.

For Mr Gillani that was never a choice, his supporters say. A tall, softly-spoken man with an air of authority, supporters say he is known for doing the right thing.

In 1995, Mr Gillani issued instructions for the release of parliamentarians detained by his own PPP government.

When the interior ministry refused to oblige, he had the matter brought on record - a quite unprecedented action.

His remarks after he was sentenced in 2001 were similarly unequivocal.

He told the Dawn newspaper that the charges were "concocted and were fabricated to pressurise him to leave the PPP".

"Since I am unable to oblige them, they decided to convict me so that I could be disqualified and an example set for other political leaders who may learn to behave as good boys," he said at the time.

His stance and defiance won him many admirers, even among the government.

Political family

Anti-establishment politics and leadership is seen as something of a birth right for him.

He was born on 9 June 1952 in Karachi but his family hails from the Punjab.

The Gillanis are among the most prominent of landowners and spiritual leaders in the south of the province. Their home town is the ancient Punjabi city of Multan, one of the oldest unbroken human settlements in the world.

The family's prominence naturally led to vying for political power.

His grandfather and grand-uncles joined the All India Muslim league and were signatories of the 1940 Pakistan resolution. This was the declaration which eventually led to partition.

His father, Alamdar Hussain Gillani served as a provincial minister in the 1950s.

Mr Gillani joined up in 1978 when he became a member of the Muslim League's central leadership.

This was soon after he completed his MA in journalism at the University of Punjab.

His first term as a public servant was as a nominee of General Zia-ul-Haq.

The Pakistan Army chief had been the country's dictator since he overthrew elected Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in a 1977 coup.

Mr Bhutto was later executed in 1979, an act that forever soured the relationship between the army and the PPP.

Mr Gillani was elected as the chairman of the Multan union council in 1983.

Two years later he was elected to the federal parliament. It was during this first stint that circumstances arose which led to his leaving the League.

While serving as a minister he fell out with then Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Junejo. This led to him being replaced as minister and sidelined in the party.

In his book, Chah-e-Yusuf ki Sada (Reflections from Yusuf's Well), which he wrote in jail, he said: "I was furious, and helpless at the same time, I knew I could not continue... and then I made up my mind."

Bhutto loyalist

Mr Gillani says he went to Karachi to meet Benazir Bhutto, Zulfiqar Bhutto's daughter, then very much in the political wilderness.

General Zia was still in power and the PPP faced an uncertain future.

Mr Gillani says he presented his offer to immediately join the PPP.

"Ms Bhutto said to me, 'There is nothing I can offer you, why have you come?'"

Mr Gillani said his reply was what sealed his relationship with the PPP and the Bhuttos.

"I said to her, there are three types of people in this world. "Lovers of honour, of wisdom and of wealth. I am of the first type, and that is all I want."

Soon afterward, General Zia dismissed Mr Junejo's government. Mr Gillani then joined the PPP, months before the general's death bought an end to its political exile.

Observers say it is his loyalty and his disdain for politicking within the party that has earned him the nomination for prime minister.

Many believe he would be willing to quietly step aside if Ms Bhutto's widower Asif Zardari becomes an MP and therefore eligible to become prime minister.

Mr Zardari is currently the party chairman, and party leaders believe another person being prime minister would create internal divisions.

"[Mr Gillani] was perhaps the only man among the top leadership who did not badger Zardari for this or any other position," says one PPP insider. "This along with the fact of his proven loyalty, has earned him the nod.

"They know that this more or less guarantees he will abide by all future party decisions over changes in government."