Massive turnout for Taji Khokhar

PPP activist was suffering from kidney disorder for past few years

RAWALPINDI:

A controversial figure of the twin cities of Rawalpindi Islamabad, Imtiaz Ali Khokhar, popularly known as Taji Khokhar passed away after prolonged illness.

Bilal Khokhar, the nephew of the deceased, confirmed the death of Taji Khokhar on social media on Tuesday.

His funeral prayers were offered on his fortress-like home, Dera Taji Khokhar, on Koral Chowk in which hundreds of people including politicians, socialites and business personalities of the twin cities participated.

The deceased was the younger brother of Punjab Assembly’s former deputy speaker Haji Nawaz Khokhar,and paternal uncle of Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the spokesperson to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

A Pakistan Peoples Party diehard activist, known for his strong-arm tactics for helping the party, Taji Khokhar was charged with having connections with land grabbers and assisting anti-social elements.

Rawalpindi police had included Taji’s name in the Fourth Schedule list of terrorists last year along with his son Farrukh Khokar.

Sources in the family said that Taji Khokhar had been suffering from kidney disease for the past few years. Last week, he underwent a kidney transplant.

He was a very a popular figure in Rawalpindi and Islamabad due to his political influence and close ties with prominent personalities of PPP.

The deceased was also the founder of Triple Three ‘333’ group which was scuttled by the Rawalpindi Police last year.

The 333 group had a number of tough guys of the city flaunting weapons, gold chains and zany cars of social media to influence and intimidate people.

Taji’s own protocol consisted of a cavalcade of dozens of black SUVs all bearing 333 registration numbers with different alphabetical series. He also had a private zoo with lions, leopards, tigers, wolves, and ostriches.

Taji Khokhar had also served sentences of several months in jail on charges of murder while he was alleged to have links with encroachment mafia as well as of assisting terrorists.

Despite all his misdoings, Taji was a man known to the poor and the downtrodden as a messiah. Like an old-school gangland chief, he would help poor people in need of financial assistance. He was known for his regular stipends to widows and orphans and grants for marriages of daughters of poor people.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2021.