KARACHI, April 14: Former Sindh chief minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Abdullah Shah died here on Saturday after protracted illness. He was 73. He will be buried on Sunday at 7am in his native village, Wahur, in Dadu district. His soyem will be held on Monday between Asr and Maghrib prayers in the village.

Mr Shah has left his wife, two sons and five daughters. He had been suffering from cancer for the last two years and was under treatment in a hospital.

He had left the country in February 1997 after being implicated in corruption cases.

However, keeping in view his deteriorating health, the government had allowed him to return on humanitarian grounds. He returned about one and a half month back and applied for pre-arrest bail in several corruption cases, which was granted by the Sindh High Court.

Mr Shah was born on Dec 11, 1934. He was a lawyer. He joined the PPP in 1970 and was a inducted as a minister into the provincial cabinet of then chief minister Mumtaz Bhutto. He played an active role in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) against the Zia regime and remained in prison during the period.

He served as the Sindh chief minister from 1993 to 1996. He was a strict administrator. He was the speaker of Sindh Assembly during the PPP’s rule in 1988.

During his tenure as the CM, an operation was launched against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and scores of workers were killed in extrajudicial encounters. His brother Ahsan Ali Shah was gunned down by unknown terrorists.

PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) leader Mir Murtaza Bhutto was also killed in a police encounter during his tenure as the CM. He was absconding in the murder case.

PPP leaders Raza Rabbani, Nisar Khuhru, Qaim Ali Shah condoled with his son MPA Murad Ali Shah and other family members.