Raza Rabbani

Senator Mian Raza Rabbani
Minister of Inter-Provincial Co-Ordination
Incumbent
Assumed office February 11, 2011
President	Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister	Yousaf Raza Gillani
Member of the Pakistan Senate from the district
Incumbent
Assumed office March 9, 2009
Personal details
Born	July 23, 1953 (1953-07-23) (age 58) Lahore, Punjab
Nationality	Pakistani
Political party	Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)
Alma mater	University of Karachi
Profession	Politician/Lawyer
Religion	Islam

Mian Raza Rabbani (born in Lahore on 23 July 1953) is a senior Pakistan's law-maker and a Senator from Sindh to the Parliament of the Pakistan, representing Sindh Province . He is current Minister of Inter-Provincial Co-Ordination. Rabbani, a senior and respective political figure of Pakistan Peoples Party, has led a very active political life and has long been a staunch supporter of former Prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He served as the Information Secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party in District East Karachi, Deputy General Secretary of the PPP Karachi division, member Sindh Executive Committee PPP, President of the Peoples Lawyers Forum Sindh and eventually joined the central committee of the PPP. He performed the duties of deputy general secretary and acting general secretary. He served as the Leader of the House in the Senate of Pakistan until March 9, 2009.^[1]

Education

Senator Rabbani is a lawyer by profession. After his early education at the Habib Public School in Karachi, he joined the University of Karachi earning his B.A. degree in 1976. Thereafter, he opted for Law and Jurisprudence and earned his LLB from the same University in 1981. During his student life, Mian Raza Rabbani pioneered the National Organization of the Progressive Students and was its founder Chairman from 1971 to 1974.^[2]

Political career

Senator Rabbani has held many important positions during his career. He has been Federal Law Minister and the Minister of State for Interprovincial Relations. Senator Rabbani was elected as member of the Senate of Pakistan in March, 1994 for a six-year term. He was a member of the Senate Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs, Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. He was the leader of the Opposition and later Leader of the House of the Senate of Pakistan. He resigned in March 2009 from three positions as a protest for reasons he said were communicated by him to his party. These positions were Minister of State, Leader of the House in the Senate and his position in the Central Committee of PPP. It is speculated that the protest was against several decisions by his party which were not on merit and principles of democracy.

Parliamentary Committee on National Security

Despite his disagreements with his party, Senator Rabbani was named by the President to be the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reform (PCCR).^[3]

Public image

Raza Rabbani is one of the very few politicians who has been able to attain and sustain a high level of credibility in the eyes of public as well as among all the political parties. He is one politician who does not have any scandals associated with him; financial, moral, or political. He does not come from a feudal background, but earned his credibility as a competent lawyer and then as a principled based political leader.^[4][5]

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  Mian Raza Rabbani at a Civil Society Forum

Support for democracy

Raza Rabbani is a political activist who has always stood for democracy, democratic norms and the cause of Human Rights.^[6] He was an active critic of the Martial Law Regime and hence was imprisoned under preventive detention laws for an accumulative period of more than thirty months between 1977 and 1993. Even his university graduation ceremony took place while he was in jail. He led a number of Youth delegations to various international events and is a recipient of the Services of Human Rights Award of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Pakistan in 1986.

Raza Rebbani is the author of a book, LFO, A Fraud on the Constitution.^[7]

References

1. ^ http://www.senate.gov.pk/ShowMemberDetail.asp?MemberCode=416&CatCode=0&CatName=
2. ^ http://www.senate.gov.pk/ShowMemberDetail.asp?MemberCode=416&CatCode=0&CatName=
3. ^ http://geographicalmedia.com/raza-rabbani/activity
4. ^ http://www.mehergarh.org/senator%20raza%20Rabbani.html
5. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxG7P4hVl-w
6. ^ http://pakistanherald.com/Profile/Mian-Raza-Rabbani-292
7. ^ http://openlibrary.org/a/OL1528329A/Mian-Raza-Rabbani

Persondata
Name	Rabbani, Mian Raza
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1953-07-23
Place of birth	Lahore, Punjab
Date of death
Place of death