RAWALPINDI: Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali passed away here on Wednesday night.

He was admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) after suffering cardiac arrest.

The 76-year-old senior politician from Balochistan served as prime minister of the country from 2002 to 2004 in former president Pervez Musharraf’s regime.

Mr Jamali was under treatment at the AFIC due to upper respiratory problems. Doctors put him on a ventilator a few days ago. However, his condition went from bad to worse on Tuesday and finally he passed away on Wednesday.

On Monday, after wrong news of Mr Jamali’s death was aired by some private TV channels, President Arif Alvi tweeted a condolence message. However, soon he deleted the erroneous tweet, apologised to Mr Jamali’s family and said in another tweet: “I have deleted the tweet, based on wrong info with apologies to the family. Mir Zafarullah Jamali is on the ventilator. I talked to Omar Jamali who confirmed this. May Allah grant him immediate recovery.”

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has expressed grief over the demise of Mr Jamali and prayed for higher status in heaven for the departed soul and courage for the bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020