Malik Meraj Khalid

Malik Meraj Khalid (1 February 1916 – 13 June 2003) was a Pakistani barrister, politician and Marxist philosopher who served as the caretaker prime minister of Pakistan from 1996 to 1997. He also served as the chief minister of Punjab from 1972 to 1973. He was one of the original philosophers and founders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Born in 1916 to a poor farming family in Punjab, he graduated in law from the Islamia College (Lahore) in 1942, starting his legal practice by establishing his own law firm in 1948. Inspired by the communist literature published in the Soviet Union, his initial public community work was aimed towards promoting literacy in his native village. In 1967, he was one of the founders of the PPP and ascended towards holding the highly important public offices. Responsible for administering and maintaining the control of the Punjab Province after the war with India in 1971, Meraj Khalid was appointed law minister in 1974 and served as the Speaker of the National Assembly in two non-consecutive terms.

However, his tough and rigorous Hard Left ideas led to developing political differences with Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s, by whom he was sacked in 1996 after levelling accusations against Benazir Bhutto's spouse Asif Zardari for the murder of Murtaza Bhutto. Being appointed caretaker prime minister, Meraj Khalid then worked to rally the anti–Benazir Bhutto forces, and his efforts contributed to Nawaz Sharif and the conservatives' landslide victory in the 1997 parliamentary elections.