JI’s former Ameer Munawar Hasan passes away

KARACHI: Former Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer, Syed Munawar Hasan, passed away at the age of 78 on Friday at a local hospital where he was undergoing treatment for the past few weeks.

Hasan was admitted to a local hospital and was shifted to its ICU after his condition deteriorated, according to the JI Karachi leaders. His body was shifted to Masjid-e- Farooq-e-Azam, North Nazimabad. His funeral will be offered today (Saturday) after Zuhr prayers at the Eidgah Ground in Nazimabad. He will be laid to rest at the Sakhi Hasan graveyard.

Hasan was born in Delhi in August 1941. After independence in 1947, he moved with his family to Karachiwhere he pursued his education and politics. He did his Masters in Sociology and Islamic Studies from Karachi University in 1963 and 1966 with distinctions.

The former JI chief started his politics from the National Students Federation (NSF), a left-leaning student group and remained close to late Mairaj Muhamad Khan. However, in June 1960, Hasan joined the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, the JI’s student wing, and became its central chief in 1963 and served in that capacity for three consecutive terms. Hasan joined the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1968 and was elected MNA from Karachi in 1977 by securing the highest vote tally in Pakistan. From 1989 to 1991 and 1992 to 1993, he served as the JI Karachi chief and central Assistant Secretary-General respectively. In 2009, he was elected Jamaat-e-Islami’s ‘Ameer’ in 2009. He was the fourth JI chief who led the party from March 2009 to 2014.

After the humiliating defeat of the JI in 2013 general polls, Hasan took full responsibility and offered to resign from his position on moral grounds. However, the party’s central Shura rejected the resignation offer. In 2014, Hasan was succeeded by Sirajul Haq after JI’s electoral college picked the latter to head the party for the next five years. It was for the first time in the JI's history, that a sitting Ameer failed to clinch a second term in office despite being in the race. In 2013, Hasan faced severe criticism for his martyr remarks about Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Hakimullah Mehsud who was killed in a drone attack.

Hasan left behind him a widow, son, and a daughter besides brothers, Shafiq Hasan and Irshad Hasan along with a number of well-wishers to mourn his death. President Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and opposition leader National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif, Jamiat Ulama-e- Islam chief, JI Ameer Senator Siraj-ul-Haq Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, and dozens of others expressed their condolences. and termed his death as a loss to the nation and the Islamic world.