PPP founding member Nazim Hussain laid to rest

MULTAN: Former Punjab minister and founding member of the PPP Nazim Hussain Shah passed away on Monday night after a prolonged illness at the age of 80. He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard at Faqirwali.

Nazim was a seasoned politician, a great human, a friend of friends and a man of social gatherings. He was born on March 23, 1940 in Kot Faqir Ali Shah, Muzaffarabad. He was known as a political legend and a man of old traditions among his friends.

His grandfather Faqir Ali Shah was a Zaildar of Multan and father Kazim Hussain Shah was an activist of the Pakistan Freedom Movement. He was imprisoned in the Central Jail, Multan, during the Pakistan Freedom Movement. He was in jail on the day when Pakistan became independent.

Nazim received his early education in Multan, graduated from the FC College, Lahore, and passed LLB examination from the Muslim Law College, Karachi, in 1968. He started practicing law in Multan in 1969 and joined the PPP from the Multan Division. He was the only member of the Punjab Assembly to be elected five times on the PPP ticket. When the PPP came into power in 1971, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made him chairman of the Peoples Works Programme. He was elected a member of the District Council by record votes in 1987.

He defeated Makhdoom Ahsan Shah of Sher Shah in 1988 to become an MPA and failed to win elections in 1990. He became an MPA again on a PPP ticket in 1993 and served as minister for Local Government, Excise and Taxation in Manzoor Wattoo's cabinet. He became am MPA for the fourth time in 2002 and for the fifth time in 2008. The funeral prayers of the deceased were offered at his residence in Kot Faqir Ali Shah on Tuesday. Allama Alimdar Hussain Naqvi led the funeral prayers.

Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, senior politicians Javed Hashmi, Liaquat Baloch, Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar, Abdul Qadir Gilani, Haider Zaman Qureshi, Asif Labar, Malik Saeed Akhtar, Saleem-ur-Rahman Mayo, Abdul Rahman Kanjoo, Rao Sajid Ali and others were present at the funeral prayers.

Family sources said the schedule for Qul Khawani has not yet been decided because the wife of Syed Nazim Hussein Shah (late) has been hospitalised due to her illness and she is also serious.

Civil society paid rich tribute to the late leader for his struggle for democracy. Dozens of people visited Faqirwali on Wednesday and offered fateha and condoled with his elder son Syed Liaqat Shah.