On January 1, 1998, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar took oath of office as the ninth President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was born on November 2nd 1929 in a middle-class family of village Pir Kot in District Gujranwala near Lahore. After graduating from Islamia College, Gujranwala, in 1949, Mr. Tarar secured his law degree from the University Law College, Lahore in 1951. The same year he was enrolled as a pleader. In October 1955, he was enrolled as an advocate in the Lahore High Court. Mr Tarar started his career as a Judge when, in October 1966, he was appointed Additional District and Sessions Judge from the Bar. Before his election as President, he was a Senator elected un-opposed on the Pakistan Muslim League ticket in March 1997.