Muhammad Rafiq Tarar

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar (2 November 1929 – 7 March 2022) was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the ninth president of Pakistan from 1998 until he left office in 2001. He also served as a senator from Punjab in 1997; and, before entering politics, as a senior justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1992 to 1994 and as the chief justice of the Lahore High Court from 1989 to 1991.

Tarar was born in Mandi Bahauddin, and graduated with LLB from University of the Punjab in 1951, before starting practice as a lawyer in Lahore High Court the following year. In 1966, he pursued a career as a jurist. Tarar later served as a justice in Pakistan's highest courts. After his retirement at 65, he started a political career as a legal advisor to Nawaz Sharif. Tarar became a senator from Punjab in 1997 and the same year nominated as presidential candidate by PML-N, but his nomination paper was rejected by the Acting Chief Election Commissioner. Barrister Ijaz Husain Batalvi assisted by M. A. Zafar and Akhtar Aly Kureshy Advocate, challenged his rejection in Lahore High Court and the Full Bench set aside the rejection order of the Election Commission and he was elected president of Pakistan in the presidential election by a margin of 374 out of 457 votes of the Electoral College.