afar Leghari breathed his last in Lahore on the last evening of 2022. His death has further dented the once mighty Leghari dynasty that had never fully recovered from the demise of Farooq Leghari in 2010.

Farooq and Jafar were contemporaries and close relatives.

Jafar shadowed Farooq during his lifetime. After his death, Jafar annointed Farooq’s son, Jamal, as head of the Leghari tribe by tying the traditional turban on his head.

Farooq was the first Baloch president of Pakistan. His political legacy included the bringing down of Benazir Bhutto’s elected government in 1996 by invoking the infamous Eighth Amendment. He later set up the Millat Party and formed an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid. The coalition, initially known as the National Alliance, ruled Pakistan under Gen Pervez Musharraf. Jafar became an MNA and Farooq helped him become a powerful member of the government.

Today, Jafar is survived by his widow, Dr Mina Jafar Leghari, an Afghan with a PhD in international relations, and a daughter, Fatima Leghari; and the Jafar and Farooq families are at odds over political management. This has resulted in a further weakening of the Leghari dynasty.

Ramazan Qadir, a local leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), comments, “What is new here? This is the fate of all dynasties, east or west. The age of sardars and feudal lords is coming to a close. In Dera Ghazi Khan division alone, the likes of Zartaj Gul, Jamshed Dasti and Maulvi Abdul Karim have been elected MNAs due to general public’s dislike of dynastic politics. The sad part is that the new non-sardar leaders have failed to empower the local youth and facilitate their rise to political leadership.”

Journalist Ahsan Reza Budh says that the dispute regarding Jafar’s successor has exposed the fault lines in tumandar Leghari family based in the Choti Zaireen area.

“Jafar died on December 31 at the age of 81. On January 2, his qul was well-attended. All and sundry were present. In the presence of everybody, his nephew Mohsin Leghari was declared his political successor. Nasrullah Dareshak performed the dastar bandi,” says Budh. The message was clear. “Farooq Leghari’s sons – Jamal and Awais – silently left the gathering indicating that they do not endorse the decision. Jamal is the chief of the Leghari tribe,” he adds.

The silence spoke of a storm building up behind the high walls of the historic haveli. The sprawling haveli is a third of the fort that has been equally divided among the three Leghari families, including that of Farooq Leghari.

“Ever since I grew up, I saw Jafar as the MNA from Jampur. I saw him sitting with dictators and almost all political parties. His rule over Jampur was undisputed. But if you ask me about his legacy, I would say it is poverty and deprivation in the area. It is social oppression,” says Sattar Misrani, the editor of a local newspaper.

“Ever since I grew up, I saw Jafar as the MNA from Jampur. I saw him sitting with dictators and almost all political parties. His rule over Jampur was undisputed. But if you ask me about his legacy, I would say it is poverty and deprivation in the area. It is social oppression,” says Sattar Misrani, the editor of a local newspaper.

A couple of days after the qul ceremony, Jamal Leghari announced that Yousaf Leghari is the political heir to Jafar. Yousaf is Jamil Leghari’s son and Jafar’s nephew.

Jafar’s widow, Mina, has publicly opposed the announcement. Though she was unavailable for a detailed comment, she has issued a statement and uploaded a video on social media. A distant relative to King Zahir Shah, she had left Afghanistan during the war at the age of 9 and landed in California, US. Jafar, nearly 30 years older than her, had proposed to her in the US. After their marriage Mina had mostly lived at Choti Zaireen. A vibrant English-speaking woman, she has categorically stated that her daughter Fatima is Jafar’s legal heir and that Mohsin Leghari, the incumbent Punjab finance minister, his political successor. She and her family, she has said, are not bound by any decision taken by Jamal Leghari. She has claimed that during his lifetime, Jafar had approved of Mohsin’s potential succession.

No one was welcome to interfere in “our family affairs”, she said.

Jamal’s brother Awais had told journalists that Jamal was the head of the clan. “He had said: Uncle Jafar performed Jamal’s dastar bandi when our father Farooq Leghari passed away. As per Leghari tradition, an heir should be from the bloodline of Sardar Atta Muhammad,” Budh quotes.

Atta Muhammad, Jafar’s father, had married an Irish lady while studying in the UK. He was a powerful bureaucrat before and after the Partition and had served as commissioner of the area during the Raj. Jafar also completed his education from elite institutions in Pakistan. Unlike Farooq, Jamal and Awais, Jafar had contested and won elections from Jampur, which was not his ancestral town.

“Fatima Bibi is Uncle Jafar’s daughter. She is like our own daughter. She is Uncle Jafar’s legal heir. But Uncle Jafar’s political heir from Sardar Atta’s bloodline is Yousaf Leghari,” Budh quoted Awais as telling him.

Farooq Leghari’s sons are currently in the PML-N. At the time of his passing, Jafar, like Mohsin, was in the PTI. The Legharis are not the only people interested in the political vacuum caused by Jafar’s absence; the Khosa, Gorchani and Dareshak leaders are also assessing their chances and laying their plans. In this battle of sardars, the going may not be easy for Dr Mina Jafar Leghari.

The writer, an ICFJ fellow, teaches at IIUI