MULTAN: Taj Mohammad Langah, the founder of the Pakistan Seraiki Party, died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Multan on Sunday. He was 73.

He is survived by daughter Nukhba Langah.

The Seraiki nationalist leader was born in 1940 in Mauza Bahar di Goth of Lodhran, then a part of Multan.

He qualified as barrister in England in 1964 and began his political career in 1967 by joining the Pakistan Peoples Party after meeting Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in that country.

Mr Bhutto invited him to contest election for a National Assembly seat against Mumtaz Daultana from Vehari in 1970. He also served as deputy secretary general of the PPP for some time.

Taj Mohammad Langah left the PPP in 1977 and founded the Awami Jamhoori Party the same year and the Seraiki Lawyers Forum in 1982. Later he was elected president of the Seraiki Soba Mahaz in 1986.

On April 7, 1989, he founded the Pakistan Seraiki Party and remained its president till his death. He contested a by-election on the PPP’s ticket for a National Assembly seat in Bahawalpur in 2003, but lost to a PML-Q candidate.

His nomination papers for the coming general elections were approved by the returning officer.

Mr Langah was a vocal advocate for carving out a province for Seraikis. He believed that creation of the province would strengthen the federation.

He was laid to rest in his family graveyard at Karor Pucca, Lodhran district.