Tribune’s Gamechangers 2011: Yousaf Raza Gilani

Blowing hot and cold.

The man of reconciliation himself, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has had to walk a tight rope between all the various, and often feuding, organs of the state.

Often placed in the difficult position of defending the government’s record, Gilani has often spoken of conspiracies against the government and democracy and has repeatedly called on all state institutions to work ‘within their constitutional limits’. Perhaps his most memorable speech this year was when he took an oblique shot at the establishment, asking who had issued a visa to Osama Bin Laden and reminding the army that it was subservient to the parliament … technically at least.

However, in keeping with his unofficial sobriquet of being the ‘man of reconciliation’, he later called Army Chief Kayani ‘ pro-democracy’ and clarified that he had no intention of removing either the army or ISI chiefs.

Quote: “A state within a state is not acceptable.”