UMERKOT: Pakistan Muslim league-Functional leader Faqir Jadam Mangrio died on Wednesday after battling Covid-19 at a private hospital in Karachi for two weeks.

He was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Debo village amid hundreds of relatives and supporters.

Mangrio had started his political career in 1987 as chairman of Dhoronaro town committee and quickly moved to general election the following year. In 1988 and then again in 1990 he contested from Kot Ghulam Mohammad on PML-F ticket but lost and was made special assistant to then chief minister Jam Sadiq.

In 2002, he fought for a provincial assembly seat from Pithoro but suffered defeat and became adviser to CM Ali Mohammad Mahar. From 2004 to 2007 he remained adviser to CM Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

In 2013, he contested for PS-69 Pithoro against Syed Sardar Shah of Pakistan Peoples Party and was defeated yet again. In 2018, he entered the fray for PS-51 Pithoro and lost again to Sardar Shah.

Mangrio’s only major win was his election as member of National Assembly in 2008 on a ticket of PML-F after which he was made minister of state for railways.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2020