Hakim Ali Zardari, a seasoned politician and the father of President Asif Ali Zardari passed away on Tuesday after protracted illness. He was 81. Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed to APP that Hakim Ali Zardari breathed his last at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where he was getting treatment.
He was put on a ventilator since mid March. "It is announced with deep regret that Hakim Ali Zardari, father of President Asif Ali Zardari expired a short while ago," Babar said in a message. Born in 1930, late Hakim Ali Zardari played an active role in the politics and served in various capacities. He served as federal minister twice
He will be laid to rest in the early hours of Wednesday in Balo-jo-Qubbo graveyard, in his ancestral village Fatohal Zardari. The body of Hakim Ali Zardari was shifted from Islamabad to Nawabshah Airport aboard a C-130 plane from where it was driven in a motorcade straight to the President House known as Zardari House, at about 7.30 pm on Tuesday.
President Asif Ali Zardari also arrived here where federal and provincial ministers, elected representatives and notables of the area were offering condolences to him on the demise of his father. Sindh Chief Minister has also headed for Nawabshah to condole with the President on his father's demise and to attend the burial of Hakim Ali Zardari.
Quran Khawani was being held in Zardari House here which was being attended by hundreds of people, who reached there soon after hearing the news of the death of Hakim Ali Zardari.
Among those who had arrived so far to offer condolences with President Asif Ali Zardari and to attend the funeral and burial of Hakim Ali Zardari include: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Minister Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Senior Sindh Minister Pir Mazhar-ul- Haq, Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuro, Sindh Ministers Muhammad Ayaz Soomro, Zahid Ali Bhurgari, Sharjeel Inam Memon, Mir Nadir Magsi, MNA Islamuddin Shaikh, MNA Gul Muhammad Jakhrani, MPA Javed Ali Shah and Nazar Muhammad Gaho.
A delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) including MNA Waseem Akhtar and MPA Suhail Ahmed also arrived at Zardari House to offer condolences with the President. Hakim Ali Zardari, also known as Raees Hakim Khan was born in 1930 in village Fatohal Zardari in a political and land-owning family of Nawabshah. He got his initial education in a mosque school of his village and completed Matriculation from DC High School Nawabshah. Later he continued his education in reputed educational institutions of Hyderabad and Karachi.
Hakim Ali Zardari was also an art lover who established cinema houses in Hyderabad and Karachi in his early career and worked as film distributor and also produced a Sindhi film "Soorath." Hakim Ali Zardari started his political career in 1965 when he was elected as Member of District Council Nawabshah. He was later elected as Vice President of the then Divisional Council. During the period he played a key role in the development of Nawabshah and the people of the city still remember his services in this respect.
During presidential election of 1965, Hakim Ali Zardari supported Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah against General Ayub Khan (Retd) and following dissolution of the government of President Ayub Khan, he joined Pakistan Peoples Party in 1970 as one of its founder members. In 1970, he was elected as the President of Zardari tribe in a convention held in Latif Hall, Nawabshah in 1970.
In the same year, he was elected as Member of the National Assembly behalf of PPP. Later, for some years he associated himself with National Democratic Party (NDP) and was elected as its Provincial President in Sindh. In the non-party elections conducted by General Muhammad Zia-ul- Haq in 1985, he filed nomination papers for a National Assembly seat from Nawabshah however, he could not succeed in the electoral contest. Later, Hakim Ali Zardari rejoined the PPP and on December 18, 1987, he become the father-in-law of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as his son Asif Ali Zardari was married to her.
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