Sindh ex-CM Mumtaz Bhutto passes away

SUKKUR: Former chief minister Sindh Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto passed away on Sunday in Karachi at the age of 92.

The Nimaz-e-Janaza would be held today (Monday) at Mirpur Bhutto village. The veteran politician, who had also served as the governor of Sindh, had been suffering from multiple ailments, said Ameer Bakhsh Bhutto, son of the Mumtaz Bhutto.

A cousin and close associate of former prime minister and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mumtaz Bhutto passed away at his residence in Karachi.

According to family members, Mumtaz Bhutto was suffering from lungs disease, but passed away due to a heart attack.

"He was admitted to a private hospital in South City Hospital Karachi wherefrom we shifted him to his residence. His body was being shifted to his hometown Mirpur Bhutto, in Larkana district for funeral prayers,” family sources said.

Mumtaz Bhutto was one of the founding members of the PPP, and served as Sindh chief minister in 1972. He later became a federal minister and also served as the governor of Sindh. Following the death of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he parted ways with the PPP and launched his own party, the Sindh National Front (SNF), and contested many elections on its platform. Mumtaz Bhutto then joined Prime Minister Imran Khan by merging his own party with the (PTI) in 2017. Later he disassociated himself from the PTI as well over differences with Imran Khan on 'neglecting' Sindh's issues.

Chief of the Bhutto tribe, Mumtaz Bhutto was born on 29 November, 1933 in village Peer Bakhsh Bhutto in Larkana. He got his initial education from St George's College in Missouri, in India. He later joined the Lawrence College, in Murree, and went on to complete his bar at law from Lincoln's Inn, in the UK. He did his Masters in 1959 from the University of Oxford. In March 1965, at the age of 32 years, he was elected a member of the National Assembly. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed the People's Party on March 30, 1967, he became a founder member of PPP. In the 1970 election, he contested election against Qazi Fazlullah and won the election. On December 24, 1971, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had posted him governor of Sindh and then the Chief Minister of Sindh on May 1, 1972. In the elections held on January 7, 1977, he was once again elected a member of the National Assembly. In 1977, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed him as the president of the People's Party Sindh. In 1996, President Farooq Leghari after dismissing a Benazir Bhutto's government had posted him as caretaker chief minister of Sindh. ZA Bhutto had been calling him as Talent Cousin.

Prime Minister Imran Khan extended his condolences upon hearing the news of his former political associate's demise. In a tweet, the PM stated that he was, "Saddened to hear of the passing of Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto."

President Arif Alvi, PPP Chairman Billawal Bhutto Zardari, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Pir Syed Sabghatullah Shah Rashdi (Pir Sahab Pagara) Opposition Leader in Senate Yusuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, CM Murad Ali Shah and others extended their condolence to the heirs of the late Mumtaz Bhutto.