KARACHI: Federal minister for narcotics control and former Sindh chief minister Sardar Ali Mohammad Mahar passed away on Tuesday in Ghotki. He was 52.

He was at his home in Khanpur Mahar when he suffered a cardiac arrest, family members said. His funeral prayers were offered after Isha prayers in Khangarh Sharif and he was laid to rest in his native graveyard in Khangarh.

He has left behind a widow, daughters, son Sardar Ahmed Khan Mahar who is chairman of Khangarh taluka of Ghotki district.

Ali Mohammad Mahar was inducted as federal minister for narcotics control into the cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan in September last year. He served as the 25th chief minister of Sindh from 2002 to 2004.

Born to Ali Anwar Khan Mahar in Khangarh on Jan 12, 1967, Ali Mohammad Mahar got early education from Sadiq Public School in Bahawalpur, Punjab.

He was first elected as a member of the National Assembly on a Pakistan Peoples Party ticket in 1995.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of his paternal uncle Sardar Ghulam Mohammad Khan Mahar.

In the 2002 general elections, Ali Mahar had contested from National Assembly’s constituency NA-201 (Ghotki-II) and Sindh Assembly’s PS-6 (Ghotki-II) as an independent candidate and won both seats by defeating Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal candidate Ghulam Rasool Kalhoro and Ahsanullah Khan Sundrani of the National Alliance, respectively.

He quit the NA seat to become the chief minister of Sindh on Dec 17, 2002 and retained the office until his resignation on June 9, 2004.

Meanwhile, almost all towns of Ghotki, including Khangarh Sharif, Shah Pur Mahar and Khanpur Mahar, were closed to mourn Sardar Mahar’s death and a large number of people, including politicians, civil society members and Mahar community members, started converging on his residence.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2019