ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary leaders of all parties in the National Assembly paid rich tributes to the late Makhdoom Amin Fahim for his firm commitment to democracy and his party when it needed him the most.

Nearly all speakers recalled how Mr Fahim, who passed away this weekend after a protracted illness, remained loyal to his party leader Benazir Bhutto after she went into exile in the late 1990s.

“Even after the 2002 general elections, when he was offered the prime minsitership by the then-chief executive General Pervez Musharraf, Mr Fahim preferred to stick to his party,” recalled PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Mr Qureshi, who served alongside Mr Fahim in the federal cabinet of the last PPP government, said that in his death the country had not just lost a parliamentarian of the highest stature but also one who had stood for democracy in the toughest of times.

Also read: Senior PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim laid to rest

Safron Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch, speaking on behalf of the ruling PML-N, called the late PPP leader “a true democrat”.

“Very few people know that after the PPP emerged as the leading political party in the 2008 general elections and he was sidelined by his party leadership, Mr Fahim was approached by certain quarters with the offer of the highest office, provided he bid farewell to his party. When I personally asked him about this, he just smiled,” Mr Baloch said.

According to the minister, only the late Mr Fahim could have resisted such an offer. His unwavering stand for democracy in the country and devotion for party was without comparison and a lesson for all future democrats, the minister said.

However, it was the ever-candid Mehmood Khan Achakzai who also hit out at the PPP for not honouring Mr Fahim in a manner befitting the commitment with which he had served the party over the years.

“Those who are remembered with good words after their death are very lucky, and the late Mr Fahim is one of those people. He fought like a military general, but to strengthen democracy in the country.” The PkMAP leader also eulogised the late PPP leader’s fearless leadership as chairman of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.

Mr Achakzai said that even though Mr Fahim had developed serious difference with his party leadership, he never spoke publicly about them. Talking about his deceased comrade, PPP’s Syed Khurshid Shah said Mr Fahim was one of the few political leaders who always faced adversity with great fortitude and his services, both to the party and democracy, would always be remembered.

MQM’s Khawaja Sohail Mansoor also spoke highly of the PPP leader, saying that he stood by his party through thick and thin and always remained on friendly terms, even with his critics.

As per tradition whenever a sitting member of parliament passes away the house is usually adjourned without taking up any business. But of late, parliamentarians have taken to offering tribute to the departed soul in sessions held immediately after their passing.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015