LAHORE: One of the most attention grabber candidates during every election for decades, Nawab Dr Ambar Shahzada breathed his last on Monday afternoon. He was 59 and is survived by his wife.

Born in 1964 in Faisalabad in a business family, Ambar developed his interest in politics during his stay at the then Government College, now a university, where he did his master’s in philosophy.

After his master’s, he formed “Aap, Janab, Sarkar Party”, and started contesting elections from the late 80s. He used to claim he has contested more elections than any other politician in the world, which he claimed were 50.

“He was one of those guys of the 80s who broke the seriousness of politics,” says one of his classmates from GC days. In those days, two more characters (Saleem Kirla and Sharif Diwa) also contested elections, but Amber turned out to be more persistent and continued with politics.

What made him a headline grabber was that he never begged for votes during the course of elections, and that one of his election promises that corruption be legalised if the proceeds are used for public welfare. Another thing which made him an outstanding candidate was his Turkish cap and handlebar moustache.

His fray in poetry was also his lifelong fascination. His book “Jurma Nalon Wad Sazawan (punishments exceeding crimes) turned out to be his biggest contribution to the genre than his politics.

He suffered a stroke of paralysis last year but recovered well. However, he could not survive a cardiac arrest on Monday afternoon. He was later buried in the local graveyard. He qul prayers would be offered at his residence on Tuesday after iftar.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023