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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 000676 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PK PREL
SUBJECT: POTENTIAL PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER:  AMIN FAHEEM 
 

REF: A. ISLAMABAD 549 
 
     ¶B. ISLAMABAD 505 
     ¶C. ISLAMABAD 226 
     ¶D. ISLAMABAD 146 
  Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, Reasons 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  This is one of several profiles on potential  Pakistani candidates for Prime Minister.  The Pakistan  People's Party (PPP) is embroiled in a leadership struggle;  the Central Executive Committee will decide after the  February 18 election who will be its choice for Prime  Minister.  As PPP Vice Chairman and the man chosen by Benazir  as the PPP's in-country leader during her exile, Amin  Makdhoom Faheem is considered the party's most likely choice. 
 In the most recent International Republican Institute's  poll, Faheem was the candidate preferred overall to become  Prime Minister. 
 
¶2.  (C)  The other contenders include PPP Co-Chairman Asif  Zardari, who floated a failed trial balloon (Ref A) on his  candidature in early February.  Zardari is not currently  eligible to run for a National Assembly seat (a requirement  to become Prime Minister) although he plans to run in an  April by-election.  Other PPP hopefuls include PPP Punjab  President Shah Mehmood Qureshi, PPP Co-Chairman Yousef  Gilani, and former Defense Minister (under Benazir Bhutto) 
Aftab Mirani.  End Summary. 
 
¶3.  (C)  The eldest son of a founding member of the PPP, Amin  Faheem has a strong, independent political base in Sindh  province.  A traditional Sindhi feudal landlord, Faheem also  inherited divine Sufi status from his father and enjoys the  revenues from a local Sufi shrine near his home in Hala. 
Faheem shares a story of how he was personally recruited as a  young man to the party by PPP founder Zulfakir Ali Bhutto  during high tea in London.  Local press notes that Faheem's  followers affectionately call him ""he whose presence brings  good harvest."" 
 
¶4.  (C)  Faheem was deeply shaken by Benazir Bhutto's  assassination. In addition to physical side-effects (poor  hearing in his left ear, continuing pain in his chest and  shoulder), Faheem was depressed and withdrawn for several  weeks after the December 27 bombing.  Despite this  experience, however, he has not sought even minimal security  protection.  Until very recently, he was driving himself in  an unarmored vehicle and had only an old night watchman  guarding his home. 
  Likable but Weak 
 
¶5.  (S)  Faheem is polite, mild-mannered, soft-spoken and  considered pliable.  Benazir kept him and all her supporters  on a very short leash, so Faheem's independent leadership  skills have not been well tested.  He is almost universally  liked; in over 30 years in and out of the parliament, few can  remember Faheem making even a confrontational speech. 
President Musharraf has indicated that he would prefer to  work with Faheem than with Zardari.  Pakistan Muslim League  (PML) Secretary General Mushahid Hussain reported that  Benazir told him she never fully trusted Faheem because he  was ""too close"" to Musharraf.  PML President Chaudhry Shujaat  Hussain and Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Nawaz Sharif both  speak highly of Faheem and indicate they can easily work with  him in a coalition.  As recently as 18 months ago, Chaudhry  Shujaat offered to make Faheem's son the Chief Minister of  Sindh, a deal Faheem rejected reportedly because it was  designed to replace a corrupt PML official.  Faheem also  enjoys a friendship with Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam leader Fazlur  Rehman. 
 
¶6. (S)  Faheem assured Senator Lieberman that he has no  problem working with Chaudhry Shujaat because their fathers  had served together in the Western Pakistan Assembly (Ref D). 
 In his last meeting with Ambassador (Ref B), Faheem went out  of his way to say that Musharraf was a ""good and liberal man""  and he saw no need to seek Musharraf's impeachment in the  next Assembly.  Faheem was more interested in Pakistan's  future than in fighting with the PML after elections. 
 
¶7. (S)  Faheem's relations with Asif Zardari, however, are  not ideal.  Their styles clash and Faheem appears embarrassed 
  ISLAMABAD 00000676  002 OF 002 
 
  by reports of Zardari's corruption.  Faheem cannot be pleased  that Zardari first named Faheem as the party's choice for  Prime Minister, only to retract the offer and float a trial  balloon about his own candidacy.  NSA Aziz (who also prefers  Faheem to Zardari) told us (Ref C) that Zardari ordered  Faheem back to Sindh after meeting with the U.S. Ambassador. 
We have heard several such stories of Zardari attempting to  limit Faheem's activities.  There is speculation that, if  selected as Prime Minister, Faheem would serve as Zardari's  ""front man"" until Zardari himself could take the position. 
Given his deference to the party, Faheem may agree to serve,  but his working relationship with Zardari may be strained. 
Faheem has maintained contact with Musharraf after Benazir's  death, and there are reports that he may have contemplated a  split from the party, perhaps because of the rivalry with  Zardari.  While Faheem has his own following, it is not clear  how many PPP rank and file would follow him in any party  split. 
  National Experience 
 
¶8.  (C)  Whether because of security concerns or an order  from Zardari, Faheem told us he has no plans to campaign  outside of his native Sindh. But Faheem does have national  name recognition; in the latest IRI poll, he was the most  popular candidate for PM across party lines. 
 
¶9.  (C)  If elected, Faheem would continue Benazir Bhutto's  domestic and foreign policy agenda.  He has told us that his  main priorities would be to fight terrorism, improve the  economy and tackle the law and order problem.  He believes  that Pakistan needs a national unity government but has not  specified which parties might be included. 
 
¶10.  (C)  If proposed as Prime Minister, this would not be  Faheem's first opportunity to lead Pakistan.  In 2002,  Musharraf offered Faheem the job, but Bhutto intervened to  stop him in a complicated maneuver that include a split in  PPP ranks.  Reportedly, she feared development of an  alternative ""non-Bhutto"" power base in the PPP.  Faheem  covered the maneuver by publicly refusing to sever ties with  Benazir (the offer's condition), saying, ""loyalty is more  important for me than the prime ministership."" 
  ¶11.  (C) Faheem was born on August 4, 1939 in Hala, Sindh. 
He won his first National Assembly seat in 1970 and has been  elected five times since.  He served as a Federal Minister of  Communication (1988-90) and Minister of Housing and Public  Works (1994-96), during Benazir's two terms.  Faheem has been  defeated twice in his campaign as Pakistan president (1997  and 2007), probably because the PPP did not have a plurality  at either time. 
  ¶12.  (U) Faheem holds a BS in Agriculture from Sindh  University and reportedly studied in the UK. Faheem has two  children, including a son who is active in provincial  politics.  Despite a secular lifestyle (his preferred  alcoholic drink reportedly is a screwdriver), Faheem has four  wives--two of them from traditional tribal marriages and one  a former air hostess.  One of his wives was a Bangladeshi and  is now deceased, according to the new Bangladeshi ambassador  who is really from Karachi. Despite denials by Faheem's  family, Pakistani liberals accuse them of forcing Faheem's  sisters to ""marry the Quran,"" to prevent division of the  family's massive land holdings.  Faheem describes poetry as  his ""first love,"" and enjoys verses on love, peace, and  simplicity. Like his father did, Faheem leads a spiritual  group called ""Sarwari Jamaat"" which proclaims and promotes  the peaceful spiritual and Sufi values of Islam.  He speaks  fluent English, Urdu and Sindhi. 
PATTERSON