LAHORE, Sept 12: PPP senior vice-chairman, popularly known as Baba-i-Socialism, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid, died here on Thursday after protracted illness. He was 88.
He had been suffering from asthma for quite some time and was admitted to a local hospital a few days ago when his condition deteriorated due to weakness. His condition worsened on Thursday morning and he died in the afternoon when his blood pressure dipped to a dangerously low level.
His funeral prayers will be offered at 9:30am on Friday outside his residence 198, Shadman-II.
He is survived by his widow and four sons — Advocate Ashfaq, Nisar, Imtiaz and Ijaz.
Born in 1915 in Sheikhupura, Sheikh Rashid got his initial education there and joined the All-India Muslim League in 1940. He also participated in the Quit India Movement of the Ghaddar Party led by Subhash Chander Bose.
He enthusiastically took part in the movement against the Unionist government of Khizer Hayat Tiwana in Punjab in 1947 and formed a “bombard group” the same year when anti-Muslim riots erupted in the subcontinent several months before the partition. He was arrested while transporting some bombs from the railway workshops in a tonga.
In 1950, he distanced himself from the Muslim League after developing differences with its leadership and joined the Azad Party led by Mian Iftikharuddin. He also spearheaded peasants movements after the creation of Pakistan.
Along with the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he laid the foundations of the Pakistan People’s Party in November, 1967. He was the first Punjab president of the party and acted as president of the party in the absence of Bhutto. Feudal lords, especially those belonging to Sindh province, had protested over it.
Sheikh Rashid twice returned to the National Assembly in 1970 and 1977 polls from a Lahore constituency on a PPP ticket. However, he could not win the 1988 elections. He was refused a party ticket in the 1990 polls.
He was appointed federal agriculture minister and Federal Land Commission chairman during the first PPP regime by Bhutto. He introduced wide-ranging land reforms as FLC chief and confiscated thousands of acres of land of feudals irrespective of their political affiliation.
