The man now certain to become Pakistan's new prime minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, is a seasoned politician with strong and influential political family background. He has vast experience of local to national level politics. Presently the vice chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Gilani served as the National Assembly Speaker during Benazir Bhutto's second government from 1993 to 1996 and as a federal minister in Muhammad Khan Junejo's government from 1985 to 1988. Like his elders, he has wonderful electoral track record. He made his first entry into electoral politics in 1983 by defeating the then federal minister Syed Fakhar Imam in the elections for Multan district council chairman. He won a National Assembly seat in 1988 by defeating Nawaz Sharif, the then Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Punjab president and caretaker chief minister of Punjab. His uncle and a veteran parliamentarian Makhdoom Hamid Raza Gilani became his victim in 1990 elections. His 2008 opponent Sikandar Hayat Bosan was also a former federal minister. The only defeat Gilani suffered during his 25-year electoral politics was in 1997 when Bosan outclassed him. Arrested in February 2001 by the General Pervez Musharraf's government under charges of misuse of authority, Gilani spent almost six years in prison, where he wrote a book and also improved his profile to qualify for premiership, in the absence of any Bhutto or Zardari from the National Assembly. He did not fight 2002 elections because he was in jail and got his nephew Syed Asad Murtaza Gilani elected to the National Assembly. Asad later defected to pro-Musharraf group in the PPP known as Patriots, paving the way for allegations of secret deal against his jailed uncle. Gilani hails from Multan, the most important city in southern Punjab. He belongs to an influential political family. His is the fourth generation in electoral politics. Earlier, his great grandfather Syed Sadruddin Shah's brother Syed Rajan Bux Shah was the first Gilani to be elected to Indian Legislative Council in 1921. He remained its member till his death in 1936. Gilanis joined the All India Muslim League in 1940s. Rajan's nephew Syed Mohammad Raza Shah defeated Unionist Party candidate and PPP's another contender for premiership Shah Mahmood Qureshi's grandfather Makhdoom Murid Hussain Qureshi in 1946 elections. Raza Shah was the only non-official president of the Multan District Board before Pakistan's independence, defeating British Deputy Commissioner E.P. Moon in the elections. He was brother of Yousaf Raza's grandfather Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah. Raza's son Hamid Raza Gilani won National Assembly seats in 1962, 1965, 1977 and 1985. He served as parliamentary secretary in 1960s and as a federal minister in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's 1977 cabinet. He was elected to Senate of Pakistan in 1991. Mustafa Shah's son and Yousaf's father Makhdoom Alamdar Gilani was elected to Punjab Assembly in 1951 along with his brother Syed Walayat Hussain Shah. Alamdar Gilani was elevated to provincial health minister in 1953. He joined newly born Republican Party in 1956 and was disqualified by Ayub government from electoral politics. His brother and Yousaf's uncle Rehmat Shah filled the vacuum by joining Ayub Khan's Conventional Muslim League and winning a provincial seat along with Hamid Raza who kept on leading the family on the electoral scene till the time Yousaf ousted him in 1990. Yousaf is also closely knit in the network of feudal politicians of Pakistan. Himself being descendent of Moosa Pak Shaheed, a great saint of Multan, Yousaf's mother was a sister of Makhdoom Hasan Mahmood of Jamaldinwali, Rahimyar Khan. Makhdoom Hasan's other sister was married to Pir of Pagaro. Those who intimately know Yousuf Raza are unanimous in their opinion that unlike Zafarullah Jamali, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Shaukat Aziz, he would not be a ‘yes boss' type prime minister, after all. Even in private discussions, Gilani had been telling his friends that if he was given the chance to lead Pakistan, he should not be taken as someone who would be the boss's man. __
