OKARA: Former state minister Mian Muhammad Zaman passed away after protracted ailment on Sunday. He was 88.

He started his political career by participating in the 1985 general election during the Zia regime and was elected Member National Assembly. He was later elected MNA in 1990 and 1997.

He remained the state minister for science and technology, state minister for overseas Pakistanis and chairman Federal Land Commission of Pakistan. He was the father of Provincial Minister for Forestry Mian Yawar Zaman.

He was a member of Okara’s known political family. His father Mian Ghulam Muhammad and uncle Mian Abdul Haq remained members Legislative Assembly of the West Pakistan and they also worked for the Pakistan Movement.

Muhammad Zaman was an active social and political worker who hosted the All-Pakistan Peace Conference in 1949 in Okara, managed by the Anjuman Taraqqi Pasand Musannifeen and the Communist Party of Pakistan. During the farmers’ rights movement of Punjab, he was a member of the Kissan Committee and imprisoned in 1949-50.

His funeral prayers were attended by a large number of people from all walks of life.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017