Farooq Ahmad Khan: Bhutto's pick, until he sacked her

Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari was Pakistan's eighth president, from 1993 to 1997. The country's first leader drawn from the ethnic Baloch group, he rose with comparative ease from the position of civil servant through politician to president.

Leghari is perhaps best remembered for having dismissed his previous champion, Benazir Bhutto, as prime minister. Bhutto had hand-picked him as president, but by 1996 chaos ruled her cabinet and Leghari, using the now defunct Article 58-2(b) of the Pakistani constitution, and citing instances of corruption, lawlessness and extrajudicial killings, dissolved the cabinet and fired Bhutto.

Many saw his dismissal of Bhutto as a grave betrayal, especially since he had been appointed based on the loyalty to her Pakistan People's Party that he had exhibited since 1977. Leghari's appointment had been seen as lending a considerable degree of stability to her coalition government. Newly elected, he promised to strengthen democracy and social cohesion. But, the relationship soon soured: "She made the mistake of not seeing any difference between her personal interest and the interest of the state," Leghari said, in justification of his decision. "She thought she was too clever and too wise."

Relations with her successor as prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, fared little better, however, and Leghari resigned before completing his five-year term of office after the two failed to reconcile their differences, essentially, Mr Sharif's desire to assume absolute power through the controversial Eighth Amendment. When Leghari sought the help of the chief justice, Sajjad Ali Shah, in the affair, the prime minister made it clear the president's time in office was over.

Instead of retiring from politics, however, Leghari went on to create his own political party, the Millat Party, but it was a lacklustre end to a life in politics. The party joined a coalition of seven others, known as the National Alliance, to participate in the general elections of 2002, standing against Pervez Musharraf, the former army general who had seized control of the government in 1997. Emerging as the third largest group in parliament, the alliance won 13 seats in the National Assembly. Later, Leghari joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

Politics was in Leghari's blood, and his family was one of Pakistan's most powerful. In the Dera Ghazi Khan district of southern Punjab province, their lands covered more than 40,500 hectares.

Leghari's father, Nawab Muhammad Khan Leghari, played a prominent part in the independence movement and was imprisoned as a political prisoner in 1946. After independence, he served as minister in the Punjab government from 1949 to 1955.

At his school in Lahore, the renowned Aitchinson College, Leghari was appointed head boy and declared the Best Leaving Student of 1957. Subsequently, he studied PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) at Oxford University. Away from lectures, he perfected his tennis backhand and became a regular on the polo field.

On returning to Pakistan, he joined the civil service, serving for a period in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), but on his father's death he resigned from service and returned to the ancestral home.

By the time Leghari's grandfather and father had died, passing on the role of feudal sardar, or chief of the estate, to the eldest son, the estate had been reduced in scale somewhat, though it was still considerable.

In 1973, on the invitation of the prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he joined the PPP, and two years later was elected to the Senate. As a minister in the first PPP government, he held several portfolios, including those of finance and, briefly, foreign affairs. In all, he won National Assembly seats on the PPP ticket three times - in 1988, 1990 and 1993.

When Bhutto was arrested, Leghari became leader of the party. The PPP was persecuted relentlessly during the military regime of Gen Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and Leghari was placed under house arrest on several occasions.

Leghari's two sons, Awais Ahmed and Jamal, are regarded as two of Pakistan's most influential politicians. He is also survived by his wife and two daughters.

Born May 29, 1940. Died October 21, 2010.

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”