NAWABSHAH, Sept 29: Senior politician Imdad Mohammad Shah passed away in the Majeed Keerio village in Sakrand taluka on Wednesday. He was 69. Mr Shah, son of the late G.M. Syed, suffered a heart attack early on Wednesday and was taken to the People's Medical College Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

He was laid to rest in the Majeed Keerio graveyard. A large number of people from all over Sindh attended the funeral. They included Basheer Qureshi, Dr Qadir Magsi, Gul Mohammad Jakhrani, Shah Mohammad Shah, Mir Mohammad Talpur, Shaukat Shah, MNA Ghulam Mustafa Shah, MPA Jam Tamachi Unnar and MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio.

Syed Imdad Shah was born in Sann, district Dadu, on December 30, 1935. He received primary education in Sann and higher education in Karachi. He passed law degree from the Hyderabad Law College and practised law for two years.

He started his political career with the Awami League of the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After the creation of Bangladesh, he did not join any political party. Imdad Shah took part in the movement against the martial law of Ayub Khan and in the election campaign of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah.

He was elected to the district council of Nawabshah in 1979 and to the provincial assembly in 1985 and again in 1988. He played a key role in bringing together the Mohajir Qaumi Movement and the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) in the 1990s and was one of the founders of the Pakistan Organisation of Nationalist Movement (Ponam).

Imdad Shah is survived by his wife, four daughters and three sons - former speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah, chairman Jeay Sindh Mahaz Syed Zain Shah and Dr Ziauddin Shah.