Short tenure: State funeral for governor

Political leaders of different parties pay rich tribute to justice (retd) Saeeduzaman Siddiqui

KARACHI: Sindh Governor justice (retd) Saeeduzaman Siddiqui was laid to rest in Gizri graveyard after a state funeral on Friday.

The funeral prayers, led by Mufti Taqi Usmani, were held at the Governor House. Neither the prime minister nor the president turned up to attend the funeral of the governor - with the shortest tenure in Sindh ‘s history - who passed away on January 11 following chest congestion.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, acting governor Agha Siraj Durrani, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Federal Minister Lt General (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, Karachi corps commander and leaders of political parties, bureaucrats, diplomats and other notables of the city attended his last rituals.

Governor Siddiqui, who had replaced Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan on November 11, fell ill soon after assuming charge of his coveted office. He was taken to South City Hospital where he remained in the ICU unit for about a month. The doctors advised him to take rest.



Since his oath-taking ceremony, Governor Siddiqui did not attend any official meeting because of his deteriorating health.

Leaders of different political parties paid rich tribute to Justice Siddiqui for his services as judge and then chief justice of the Supreme Court.

“Justice (retd) Saeeduzaman Siddiqui was a good human being and as a chief justice of Pakistan he refused to kneel down before a dictator and preferred to step down,” Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said, adding that his services will be remembered.

Sikh community

On the other hand, a group belonging to the Sikh community protested outside the Karachi Press Club after security personnel at the Governor House barred them from entering the premises for the funeral of Governor Siddiqui.

The six-member delegation, led by Sardar Heera Sigh advocate, waited 30 minutes, but no one allowed them to enter the premises of the Governor House.  “A day earlier, we went inside and offered our condolences to Justice Siddiqui’s son and he had asked us to attend the funeral, too. But the security officials deputed at the gate refused to let us in because we were wearing religious Kirpan (dagger),” said Heera Singh, chairman of the Sri Guru Nanak Sat Sang Sabha, a representative organisation of the Sikh community in Pakistan.

Looking at the security hazards, leaders belonging to minorities like Bishop Council Chairman Khadim Bhutto and vice chairman Jawaid Akbar Paul preferred to return without attending the final rites of governor.

According to the Sikh community members, the government has allowed them to take their Kirpan with them as their cultural identification, but it is not tolerated by some elements. “They asked us to remove our Kirpan, which we refused,” one of the Sikh protesters said.

Heera Singh, who has also served as adviser to prime minster on minorities, was of the view that though the Constitution guaranteed them their fundamental rights under Article 20-A, extremist elements continued to violate the law.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2017.