LAHORE: Ex-president Rafiq Tarar has passed away on Monday after prolonged illness.
According to details, Rafiq Tarar was shifted to hospital after complain of chest pain.
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar had served as the ninth president of Pakistan from January 1998 until his resignation in June 2001, and prior to that as a senator from Punjab in 1997.
Tarar started a career as a lawyer, soon after completion of his studies. In 1951, he enrolled as a Pleader in Lahore High Court. He started practicing as an Advocate in the same court, later years. He established a Gujranwala-based legal aid firm in 1960s and excelled at advocacy.
In 1966, Tarar started a judicial career after he appeared and passed the competitive exams to be elevated as session judge in District Courts. In 1971, he became Chairman of the Punjab Labor Court. Tarar was appointed as a judge at Lahore High Court, highest appellate judicial court of Punjab province, in October 1974.
Tarar served in the Lahore High Court as a justice for decades. He was also as a member of the Election Commission of Pakistan where he represented Punjab. He was appointed as the 28th Chief Justice of Lahore High Court where he served from 1989 to 1991 until his appointment as a judge in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
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His appointment was made by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan with the consent of Supreme Judicial Council. He served as a senior justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from January 1991 to November 1994. He was also an awaiting candidate of the Chief Justice of Pakistan but he retired earlier on attaining the age of 65 years and started a political career.
In 1994, following his retirement from judiciary, Tarar entered in to politics and started a political career as a legal adviser and close aide to then opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. In March 1997, he became a senator and represented Punjab in the upper-house of Pakistan until his resignation in December 1997. He was nominated as presidential candidate by PML(N) same year and secured a historical victory in presidential election.
