Qazi Hussain Ahmed

He will be remembered as a politician who believed that Pakistan's woes could be solved by Islamic democracy.

The Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed for whom once the popular slogan Zaalimon Qazi aa raha hai (Qazi is coming) was meant to represent the coming of change in the 1993 elections, died on January 6 at the age of 74 in Islamabad. He will be remembered as a politician who believed in the party’s basic principles: that the country’s woes could be solved by Islamic democracy. He was a strong opponent of pro-United States policies of the country, especially its involvement in Afghanistan but, like many religious leaders, his own views on the Taliban or, more recently, the attack on Malala Yousufzai were murky at best. Last November, he survived a suicide attack in the Mohmand tribal belt — a reminder that even the best of sympathisers is not immune from the Taliban’s attacks; apparently, in this case, Hakimullah Mehsud in an earlier audio recording had singled out Qazi Hussain for siding with US allies.

Mr Ahmed served as Amir of the Jamaat from 1987 until 2003, but remained an influential party leader till the very end; he was also a leading member of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council which, amongst other things, wants to see an end to US involvement in Afghanistan, a topic that was close to Mr Ahmed’s heart. During his tenure, he has been credited with creating additional youth wings in the Jamaat, namely Pasbaan and then Shabab-e-Milli, and extending the party’s populist reach to a new generation — one that champions jihadi causes. This could be the contribution that leaves the most lasting imprint. Mr Ahmed was also the head of the coalition group the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal which won 53 seats (of 272) in 2002, under General (retd) Pervez Musharraf — notably the first time a religious coalition succeeded in garnering such a large number of seats. It was also under Mr Ahmed’s tenure that his colleague Karachi’s Nazim Niamatullah Khan initiated and completed major infrastructure projects between 2001 and 2005 and earned respect and goodwill amongst the city’s residents.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2013.