QUETTA / DERA MURAD JAMALI: Former caretaker prime minister retired Justice Mir Hazar Khan Khoso passed away in Quetta on Saturday, due to cardiac arrest.

He was 92.

Mir Khoso, who belonged to Jaffar­abad district of Balochistan, had been suffering from heart ailment for some time and undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Quetta for the last one month.

His body was taken to the Katbar Sharif area of Lehri tehsil, Sibi district, where he was buried on the premises of a shrine, according to his will. Mir Khoso was a devotee of Pir Katbar Sharif.

A large number of people, including tribal elders, officials of the district administration and Khoso tribesmen, attended his funeral prayer.

Mir Hazar Khan Khoso was a leading lawyer of the country and a seasoned politician as well the second person from Balochistan to serve as prime minister after Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who was elected prime minister in 2002.

Mir Khoso belonged to Manjhipur, a village in Jaffarabad district. He was born in Goth Mir Azam Khan on Sept 30, 1929. After initial education in his native area, he went to Karachi for higher education. He graduated from the Sindh University in 1954 and earned his law degree from University of Karachi in 1956.

Mir Khoso started his legal career in 1957 from Karachi after his enrollment as a lawyer of the high court of West Pakistan, Karachi bench, in 1959. He was given the licence for practice in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1980.

He was inducted as a permanent judge of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) in March 1987 and later appointed chief justice of the BHC on Dec 13, 1989. He retired as chief justice of the BHC on Oct 18, 1992.

Mir Khoso served as acting governor of Balochistan twice, first from June 25, 1990 to July 12, 1990 and then from March 13, 1991 to July 13, 1991.

He was appointed caretaker prime minister when the outgoing prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif did not agree on the appointment of retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim on the post.

Balochistan Governor Amanullah Yasinzai, Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani, Balochistan Awami Party Senator Saeed Hashmi, provincial ministers Saleem Ahmed Khosa, Ziaullah Langove, Mir Omer Khan Jamali, PPP leader Mir Changaz Khan Jamali, Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali and others have expressed sorrow over the demise of Mir Hazar Khan Khoso and termed his death a huge loss for the country, especially Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2021