Senior politician Mairaj Muhammad Khan passes away

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party founding member and socialist leader Mairaj Muhammad Khan passed away at a private hospital after prolonged illness. He was 77.

His family confirmed that he was brought to a private hospital after he complained of breathing difficulties. He breathed his last at the hospital.

His funeral will be held at Sultan Masjid, Defence Housing Authority after Friday prayers. He will be buried at the DHA graveyard.

Mairaj Muhammad Khan was born in 1938 at Farkhabad, UP district in India. After independence he shifted to Karachi.

During his student days in Karachi University he was active in student politics. Soon he began to be known as an intellectual in the left political circle.

All through his life he raised his voice for the oppressed.

Impressed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s socialist ideas he joined the Pakistan People’s Party. In Bhutto’s government he became the labour minister. But in 1973 he left the party claiming that Bhutto had drifted from the party’s socialist stance.

Even though he was not part of the government he led a movement against General Ziaulhaq’s military dictatorship. During the same time he found the Communist Party.

In 1998 he joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf but left the party because of his strong socialist inclination.