KARACHI: Ashraf Ali Khan, son of the first prime minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, passed away after a prolonged illness on Monday.
Seventy seven-year-old Khan, the elder son through the first premier’s second wife, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, suffered from cancer. Due to his worsening health condition, he had been admitted to a private hospital for the last five days where he died on Monday morning.
Of all three sons of the first premier, Wilayat Ali Khan was the eldest and lone offspring from his first wife, Jameela Begum, who died in 1982. His only surviving son is Akbar Ali Khan.
Born in 1937, Khan was merely a 14-year-old schoolboy when his father was assassinated on October 16, 1951 during a public meeting at the Company Bagh in Rawalpindi.
Later, he remained active in politics under the banner of Air Chief Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan’s Tehreek-e-Istiqlal during the 1970s, but he quit politics after that brief stint and remained politically unaffiliated for the rest of his life, his nephew Musharraf Ali Khan said while talking to The Express Tribune.
The funeral prayers for Khan, who is survived by a widow, his daughter and two sons, were offered at Masjid-e-Shafqat in Gizri, after which he was laid to rest in the Gizri graveyard.
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Great loss to the nation but without a single word from any political personality even from rullers . Allah rest him in peace. Amin.
@Arzoo: Liaqat Ali Khan drove out hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs out of Karachi where they had lived for centuries unwillingly so he could make room for fellow mohajirs from UP and Bihar who were willingly migrating to the country they fought for.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/388663/who-orchestrated-the-exodus-of-sindhi-hindus-after-partition/
While one can appreciate the curiosity of above commenters for details of the life of Quaid e Millat's son, it should suffice for them to know that this was the character of the founding fathers of Pakistan, and the political leaders of yesteryears, that they did not raise their children with a sense of entitlement, as is common these days. Liaquat Ali Khan hailed from an aristocratic family of Karnal, being the son of Nawab Rustam Ali Khan, whose estate had properties spread in Punjab and UP. Yet, when he was assassinated, his bank balance left for the family was a sum total of Rs1,200, after having served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The message we need to derive from Ashraf Ali Khan's passing away should be a return to a life of simplicity and honor, free of corruption and greed, and dedication to the service of Pakistan's poor and dispossessed, and an unflinching resolve to develop Pakistan as a progressive and socially just state.
RIP
@waqar: There is another leading paper which doesnt even have the news item. Maybe this is just a press release so that the public is informed and more information with a picture would be released later.
editor @ tribune - would you please like to comment on this?
R.I.P.
R.I.P. Ashraf uncle
Plz mention some details about him.