Former PM Jamali passes away at 76
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who served under military leader Pervez Musharraf, has died, his family announced.
The 76-year-old died in the city of Rawalpindi outside Islamabad on Wednesday ater recently suffering a heart atack, his son Mir Muhammad Khan Jamali said. He was buried on Thursday in his ancestral town of Rojhan Jamali.
Jamali was elected prime minister but with limited powers in November 2002, when president Musharraf allowed parliamentary elections to take place ater he took power in a bloodless 1999 coup.
Musharraf went on to rule the country until 2008 but was forced to resign the same year ater pro-military parties lost parliamentary elections and the country transitioned back to a democracy.
Jamali stepped down in the summer of 2004 ater developing differences with the party leadership and Musharraf, paving the way for one of his cabinet ministers, Shaukat Aziz, to fill the post until the next parliamentary election in 2008.
Hailing from an influential political family, Jamali was the first and only prime minister to come from the oil-and-gas-rich province of Balochistan, which has seen several long-running separatist insurgencies.
Jamali was born in 1944 in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. He entered politics in 1960s and remained active until a few months ago.
During his political career, he was associated with various parties, including Pakistan Peoples Party and Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, as well as one of its factions.
President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and several other politicians conveyed their condolences to Jamali’s family over his passing.
“Saddened to hear of the passing of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali. My condolences and prayers go to his family,” Imran wrote on Twiter.
As prime minister he did as he was bid, but his pliability did not go down well with his party’s supremo, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
He was let with no choice but to quit on June 26, 2004. Musharraf brought in Shaukat Aziz as a replacement.
As prime minister and earlier as chief minister of Balochistan, Jamali’s stints in the coveted offices made litle impression. Nonetheless, he lived a quiet life of respect, self-esteem and serenity ater that.