A file photo of National Assembly. PHOTO: APP/FILE
Ghulam Arbi Khar, the former MNA, was a peacemaker. The “people’s arbitrator” was well-trusted. His constituents took personal disputes to him – and he helped resolve them.
Khar, 69, breathed his last in Lahore on Monday. He was the younger brother of senior politician Ghulam Mustafa Khar and uncle of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
Elected to the National Assembly for the first time in 1992, he started his political career in 1969 from Muzaffargarh and played a vital role in promoting the political campaigns of his elder brother Ghulam Mustafa Khar, who was a veteran politician of the PPP and former governor of Punjab, and is currently the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional in the province.
“He was not only caring towards his family members but also towards people in his constituency,” said his grief-stricken son Shahnawaz.
During the catastrophic floods last year, Arbi played a vital role in the rehabilitation of the people and was made an honorary consul general of Estonia after receiving a medal for his service, said his son. “Today we have lost a good human being who loved people’’ he added.
Arbi Khar was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012 and was admitted to Combined Military Hospital, Lahore. His funeral prayers will be offered at his ancestral village in Muzaffargarh on Tuesday.
He is survived by his wife and two sons. His body was sent from Lahore to Muzaffargarh on a special helicopter provided by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2013.
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