Death of an icon: Founding PPP member Mairaj Muhammad Khan passes away

Veteran politician suffered from a prolonged respiratory illness

KARACHI: Veteran politician and founding member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Mairaj Muhammad Khan, died on Friday after a prolonged illness at the age of 77.

Khan, who served as the manpower and labour minister in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's cabinet, was admitted to a private hospital on Thursday after his condition worsened, according to his family. He was suffering from a respiratory problem.

His funeral prayers were held at Sultan Masjid in Defence Housing Authority's Phase V after Friday prayers and he was buried in the Gizri graveyard.

A large number of people, including politicians, trade-unionists, lawyers and journalists, attended his funeral. Faisal Edhi, son of late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, told The Express Tribune that with the demise of Khan a chapter of the working-class struggle in the country was closed.

Faisal said that the veteran politician was very close to his father and both of them shared the same school of thought: socialism. "Khan struggled for the rights of people his whole life.

He was against the class-based system."

Labour leader Nasir Mansoor shared his experience of working with Khan and opined that he was a man of his word. He never compromised on his principles, even in the hardest times, Mansoor said.

"Khan, during his incarceration during General Zia's rule, was offered freedom and other perks by the military ruler himself over a political campaign against Bhutto," he said. "However, he refused and said he would not compromise on his principles," said the labour leader.

Basically, the offer was about introducing the Muhajir card in the political arena to counter the PPP in the port city, explained Mansoor. "Khan believed that politics in the name of ethnicity and race was not the right approach."

Many top politicians, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairperson Imran Khan and PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, took to Twitter to offer their condolences over Khan’s death.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2016.