ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, whose tenure was marked by controversy due to his decision to dismiss governments headed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, died in Peshawar on Friday.
Khan, 91, had been suffering from pneumonia for three months, his son-in-law Irfanullah Khan Marwat said.
A bureaucrat-turned-politician, Khan came to prominence in 1985 when he was made chairman of the Senate by former military ruler Zia ul-Haq. He took over as acting president in 1988 after Zia’s death in a plane crash and was later formally elected to the post.
Khan's presidency was marked by controversy as he dismissed the governments headed by Bhutto and Sharif on charges of corruption, mismanagement and nepotism.
The dismissal of the Sharif government exacerbated institutional and political opposition to Khan, leading to his resignation in 1993, and later to a constitutional amendment that reduced the presidency to a figurehead.
He reportedly vetoed the appointment of former ISI chief Hamid Gul as army chief, appointing the moderately reformist general Asia Nawaz Khan Janjua instead. His presidency saw the resignation of Gen Rahimmudin Khan from the post of Governor of Sindh due to differences between the two.
Khan retired from public life after his resignation and kept away from the media.
