Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the soft-spoken, bespectacled PPP leader from Hala was a regular figure on our political landscape for more than five decades. Through this time he remained loyal to the PPP. Such adherence to a single party is rare in our politics. For this and other reasons, Fahim’s death at a private hospital in Karachi last week leaves a distinct void. His status as the head of the Sarwari Jamaat, the largest spiritual group in the country, meant that his funeral saw a massive number of people pour in from across Sindh and other provinces. Tributes came in from across the political divide including from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who hailed Fahim’s services to democracy.
Certainly Amin Fahim served well as a protector of democracy. He stood by Benazir Bhutto after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed, and acted as one of her closest aides during the years she spent in exile. He is noted for having turned down offers from opposing parties to take up key slots under them in return for an exit from the PPP. The most notable of these came in 2002 when General Pervez Musharraf, the then dictator of the country, offered Fahim prime ministership. Fahim refused. It is not often that political figures turn down such an opportunity. In the years after Benazir’s death, Fahim was, rather unfortunately, thrust to the sidelines of the party – mainly because it was thought Asif Ali Zardari may have feared losing power to him in Sindh. Fahim had at one point been a favourite to take over the PPP. But of course, the dynastic traditions of the Subcontinent prevailed. He was also the frontrunner to be nominated as prime minister after the party came to power in 2008 but was overlooked in favour of his junior, Yusuf Raza Gilani. Again, it is thought Zardari’s desire for absolute power was a factor. But despite the highs and lows, Makhdoom Amin Fahim stood by his party. For this loyalty, and his more significant loyalty to democracy, he will be
remembered well in political circles.