HYDERABAD: Makhdoom Jamiluzzaman, the eldest son of the late Makhdoom Amin Fahim, was on Monday installed as the 19th Sajjada Nashin of the shrine of Makhdoom Sarwar Nooh in Hala during the soyem of his father.
As per tradition, Khaliquzzaman wrapped the turban around his head first. Turbans were then wrapped around his head by family elders and custodians of different shrines in Sindh. The soyem — largely attended by Sarwari Jamaat followers — was also addressed by the newly-installed custodian.
Speaking on the occasion, Jamiluzzaman, a Sindh minister, quoted his father. He recalled that when his grandfather Makhdoom Mohammad Zaman Talibul Moula passed away, his father [Amin Fahim] said: “Today I have lost the sky over my head and the ground beneath my feet.” Today, he said, he realised how right his father was. He advised his followers to stick to the values and teachings they had been given over the years by different custodians.
The soyem was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, MNA Faryal Talpur, PPP secretary general Sardar Latif Khosa, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, PM’s adviser Jam Mashooq Ali, Sindh senior minister Nisar Khoro, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, former Sindh minister Pir Mazharul Haq, Jam Madad Ali and others.
Faryal Talpur, along with the CM, held a closed-door meeting with Makhdoom Jamiluzzaman. According to some reports, they discussed the possible nomination of a new president for the PPP Parliamentarians after Mr Fahim’s death. Mr Fahim led the PPP Parliamentarians since 2002.
The CM told reporters that the PPP was deeply saddened by by Mr Fahim’s death who was a man of many qualities. He was a poet and a down-to-earth politician who devoted his life to democratic struggle, he added.
He said that like his father, Mr Fahim also had remained loyal to the PPP since the days of the late Z. A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, and though he was offered the prime ministerial slot, he refused and never regretted it.
The CM said that although the PPP was founded in Lahore, it actually grew in Hala. His death had damaged not only the PPP, but also the country, he added.
Mr Fahim left a vacuum that could never be filled, he said, and expressed the hope that the Makhdoom family would emulate him and would strengthen the hands of party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015