Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Inder Kumar Gujral (Dec 1919 - present)
Inder Kumar Gujral was born on 4 December 1919. He was the son of Late Shri
Avtar Narain Gujral and Late Smt. Pushpa Gujral. He is M.A., B.Com. Ph.D. &
D.Litt. (Hons. Causa). He was born at Jhelum (in undivided Punjab) on 4th
December 1919. He and Smt. Shiela Gujral were married on May 26, 1945. He sworn
in as the 12th Prime Minister of India on Monday, the 21st of April, 1997.
I. K. Gujral belongs to a family of freedom fighters: both his parents
participated in the freedom struggle in Punjab. At the young age of eleven, he
himself actively participated in the freedom struggle in 1931 and was arrested
and severely beaten by the police for organising movement of young children in
the Jhelum town. In 1942, he was jailed during the Quit India.
He was leader of the House, Rajya Sabha from June 1996; Chairman of
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce & Textiles, 1993 to April 1996;
Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee for External Affairs - till April
1996; Member of Parliament 1964 to 1976, 1989 to 1991; re-elected to Rajya Sabha
in 1992 from Bihar; Member, Committee on Petitions, Public Accounts Committee,
Committee on Rules, Rajya Sabha; Committee on Subordinate Legislation, Rajya
Sabha; General Purposes Committee, Rajya Sabha; Standing Committee on External
Affairs.
He was the chairman of Indian Council of South Asian Co-operation; Member of the
Capital Plan Monitoring Committee; former President of the Institute of Defence
Studies & Analysis (IDSA); Chairman of the official Committee for the Promotion
of Urdu (Gujral Committee); Vice-President of the New Delhi Municipal council
1959-64; President Lahore Students Union; General Secretary of the Punjab
Students Federation; Convenor and Spokesman of United Front of the Opposition
Parties Conclave at Calcutta, Srinagar and Delhi.
Sri Gujral was the Minister of External Affairs from June 1, 1996 and held
additional charge of the Ministry of Water Resources from June 28, 1996. He was
the Minister of External Affairs earlier during 1989-1990.
He was Ambassador of India to U.S.S.R. (Cabinet Rank) from 1976-1980. He was the
Minister of Communications & Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Information &
Broadcasting and Communications; Minister of Works & Housing; Minister of
Information & Broadcasting; Minister of Planning.
He left the Congress Party in the mid-1980s and joined the Janata Dal . In 1996,
it was the largest party of the bloc of regional parties which formed the United
Front coalition to lead the Government. H. D. Deve Gowda was the JD chief and
became the Prime Minister, and Gujral became the Minister for External Affairs.
But when the Congress Party objected and threatened to withdraw its vote of
support to the UF, the UF elected I.K. Gujral to lead the Government. His tenure
ended just after 10 months when the Congress Party again decided to withdraw
support to the UF.
He speaks fluent Urdu and spends part of his leisure time writing Urdu couplets.
His wife, Sheila is a poet and author and his brother Satish Gujral is a
prominent painter and architect.
