LONDON: Leader of Muslim League Functional and spiritual leader of Hur tribe Pir Sahib Pagara died in the Wellington Hospital London on Tuesday.
He was flown to London last week after his health was deteriorated in a hospital in Karachi. Doctors had earlier reported that he had been improving.
According to his family members, Pir Pagara suffered severe breathing problems and the doctors had said his condition is extremely critical.
Family and party sources said that his body will be flown to Pakistan for burial.
A large number of people rushed to his residence after they received the news of his death through TV channels.
The original name of Pir Pagaro was Shah Mardan Shah II. He was the fourth Pir Pagara, the title given to the leader of Sunni Muslim Sufi order of Hurs in Sindh province.
He was born on December 22 in 1928 in his native village in Sindh named Pir jo Goth (The Pir's Village). He became Pir Pagaro in 1954 after his father Pir Syed Sabghatullah Shah Pagaro was hanged on March 20, 1943, by British after armed uprising of the Hurs.
He had his primary education at Pir Jo Goth some time at Karachi when he was under house arrest from 1946 he got his education at Aligarh.
From 1946 to 1952 he graduated from Major Davis school in Liverpool, England. In this school he was forced to study a Christianity subject of Divinity to learn French and Latin.
In 1949 Prime Minister Liaqut Ali Khan met him in England and assured restoration to the status of Pir Pagara. On February 4, 1952, his status of Pir Pagara was officially restored and Dasterbandi was done.
When in 1967 gang of Karo Machi Dacoit played havoc in Sindh and the government was unable to control the dacoits Pir Sahib ordered his followers to crush the dacoits and maintain peace.
Again in 1969 another gang of Abbas Katohar dacoit snatched the peach of people of Sindh. The Hurs on order of Pir Sahib crushed Abbas Katohar's gang also and maintained peace. It is for the above services of Pir Sahib that he is called as Mohsin-e-Millat. In 1970, Pir Sahib got a newspaper "Statesman" published from Karachi whose wditor was Awais.
On the political side he was known as the "king maker" as many people who had his political blessings came into power. Most notably, his Hur disciple Mohammed Khan Junejo became the prime minister of Pakistan.
In a recent revelation, Pir Sahib Pagara also liked to play cricket in his younger days. It is reported that he represented Sindh.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2012
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