Moments spent with 4 Prime Ministers

Rai Riyaz Hussain had joined the Federal Civil Service as an information officer. He had held various important positions. He was the press secretary of four prime ministers, press attaché in Japan, Sri Lanka and India, and later he served and retired as MD APP.

He penned his memoire under the title of “Public Opinion” that recounts numerous interesting events. Mr. Hussain spent quite a lot of time with Nawaz Sharif, and he is an admirer of the former Prime Minister. During his career, he also worked with former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, Chaudhary Shujaat, while working in India as press attaché also added a unique chapter to his life. Some of them he shared in his biography.

Rai Riaz has praised Mian Nawaz Sharif in his book. He had been with Mian Sahib during PLMN’s different governments. In fact, on October 12, 1999, when General Pervez Musharraf took over the government, Rai Riaz Hussain was serving in the PM house. He was then held in the PM house along with 11 other people. Mr. Hussain wrote the tale of that episode of his life; however, I am not going to write about that right now.

Rai Riaz mentioned Shahbaz Sharif, praising his performance. But one of the reasons he gave was the complete support of the then prime minister and the central government. Rai Riaz says Shahbaz Sharif is an administrator, not a leader. Nawaz Sharif is the only leader in the Sharif family. Powerful circles have tried many times to make a leader out of Shehbaz Sharif, but Sharif family’s internal bond and Nawaz Sharif’s personality did not let it happen. During several meetings, when Shehbaz was talking too much, or became emotional, Nawaz Sharif would just say ‘Shahbaz…’ and then Shahbaz Sharif would become silent.

Telling an anecdote, Rai Riaz said “Nawaz Sharif’s dining table was quite wide, he liked to feed his guests and staff, but Shehbaz Sharif was completely different from him. During one of PM tours of America, Shehbaz Sharif took Nawaz’s chief security officer Parviz rathor along with Embassy’s car and driver to review New York’s traffic system, municipal corporation etc. Hunger and several hours of drive exhausted Parviz rathor. Shahbaz Sharif stopped in front of a McDonald’s and ordered two burgers. Parvez Rathor felt ashamed that the driver of the Pakistani embassy would think that the chief minister didn’t consider him worthy enough to buy a burger for him. Interestingly, Shahbaz Sharif ate both of the burgers and Rathor and the driver were about to pass out from hunger and exhaustion when they reached the hotel in the evening.

About Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Rai Riaz writes that he has more flaws than virtues. The biggest flaw of him is his immense pride. During the 1999 coup, When Nawaz Sharif along with others were held in the PM house, the two ministers of his cabinet, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Raja Nader Parvez, left the Prime Minister’s House quietly, escaping Musharraf’s revenge.

Rai Riaz says he watched Chaudhry Nisar’s arrogance when an MPA from Bhakkar complained to Nawaz Sharif that he had an appointment with Chaudhry Nisar but he arrived at his office 15 minutes late. Chaudhry Nisar refused to meet him. He was in the office; the door was open. He was looking at me but refused to give me two minutes. MPA said “We belong to a backward area, my driver doesn’t know his way around this city, don’t oppress us so much that tomorrow Allah takes revenge on our behalf.”

Rai Riyaz says we saw Allah’s justice when Chaudhary Nisar lost both of his seats and only narrowly won the MPA election. He came to the assembly for oath after three years but couldn’t meet the Speaker after a wait of 2 hours. Then he waited for the Deputy Speaker but couldn’t get to meet him either. Chaudhary Nisar who would not wait for anyone for a few minutes, waited for hours to take oath but returned home to Pindi without taking the oath.

Rai Riaz says his stay in the PM house was the longest during his career. Twice with Nawaz Sharif, then once with Mir Zafarullah Jamali and the two caretaker Prime Ministers, Moin Qureshi and Chaudhary Shujaat. Between the first two terms of Mian Sahib, I saw a common theme of some ministers, bureaucrats, technocrats and friends surrounding the prime minister from the get-go. These people would try hard not to let anyone else get close to the PM, therefore, after a while, the PM wouldn’t have many people to advise him. I observe that if in the beginning there were 50 people with Mian Sahab, only 5 would be left at the end of his government.

 Rai Riaz was appointed as PRO in Nawaz Sharif’s first term, then Syed Anwar Mahmood was the press secretary. PRO helps the Press Secretary in the PM office affairs. Anwar Mahmood was a good man, according to Rai Riaz. Whenever he would write a report, Rai Riaz says, Anwar Mahmood would ask him to write it in his own name and sign it, so that the prime minister would know that it was done by the PRO. Rai Riaz says he has not seen such grace in many people.

 In 1992, Roy Riaz was included in the delegation that went to Turkey with the Prime Minister. On their return, they found out that Nawaz Sharif’s flight would have a technical stopover in Madinah Sharif. He performed Nawafil in the Prophet’s Mosque in the middle of the night, and it was learned that the door of the Rasool’s shrine was open, and everyone became excited. When the door opened, Nawaz Sharif, who was standing in front of the door, moved to one side and signaled to the staff to get inside. Later, someone told us that had the PM entered first, the door probably would have been shut afterward. Rai Riaz is grateful to Nawaz Sharif for life for the blessing of entering the Prophet’s shrine.

In 1993, when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s relationship with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif turned sour. Nawaz would visit Lahore every weekend. In the last few days, something strange happened when cabinet members started to resign one after another. During one such visit to Lahore, PM Nawaz came to the back of the plane to greet his staff. Rai Riaz told him about Hussain Haqqani’s resignation. Nawaz Sharif, who was about to go back to his seat, stopped and turned back and then whispered in my ears “He is an US agent”. Rai Riaz says that shocked him and made him wonder if Hussain Haqqani was an American agent, then why was he working for the PM or more importantly why Nawaz Sharif hired him as his press assistant.