KARACHI/QUETTA: Senator Usman Khan Kakar, provincial president of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) died at a Karachi hospital on Monday noon. He was 60.
His family and friends said that he suffered brain haemorrhage on Thursday in Quetta and got serious head injuries after he fell at his residence. He was shifted to a hospital where he was operated upon and put on a ventilator. After his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to Karachi’s Aga Khan University Hospital in an air ambulance.
According to his doctors, accumulation of blood in his brain due to the injury caused his death.
As members of the opposition in the Senate raised suspicion over his “sudden death,” his family opted for medico-legal examination of his body. As official said that the post-mortem of Mr Kakar’s body was conducted at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and detailed report of examination would take time to get finalised.
He is survived by a widow and six children.
The body was flown to Quetta from Karachi on Monday evening and he would be buried in his native town on Tuesday (today).
Born on July 21, 1961 in Muslim Bagh, a town of Qila Saifullah, Senator Kakar obtained his masters degree in economics from the University of Balochistan and later took admission in Balochistan Law University. He was active in students’ politics as a member of the Pakhtunkhwa Students Organisation (PSO).
He had formally joined the PkMAP after completing his education. He served thrice as the provincial party president. In 2015, the party made him senator from Balochistan. He retired from the Senate after completing his six-year term in March this year.
Mr Kakar always raised his voice for the legitimate rights of Pakhtun and Baloch people without any discrimination.
He never compromised on the rights of the people and continued speaking against injustices towards the people.
During his six-year stint in the Senate, he played an important role in raising issues pertaining to rights of Pakhtuns and also people belonging to other ethnic backgrounds.
Although the PkMAP was an ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in Islamabad, Senator Kakar always adopted a categorical and unflinching stance against those policies of the federal government that he thought were against the people.
In 2018, he was fielded for the post of Senate’s deputy chairman against Pakistan Peoples Party’s Saleem Mandviwalla. The PML-N and other mainstream opposition parties backed him but he got 44 votes and lost the election.
He was equally popular among
senators and media because of his passionate speeches and stand on domestic issues. He was an active supporter of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). He also remained the provincial convener of the opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Leaders of major political parties, provincial governors and chief ministers, federal and provincial ministers and others expressed their grief and sorrow over the untimely death of Senator Kakar.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari while expressing his grief over the demise said that Senator Kakar was a strong voice of the people in parliament.
Expressing her condolence, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz also termed him a strong voice of democracy and a front-line soldier of the struggle for civilian supremacy.
Imran Ayub contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2021