Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart and senior leader Jehangir Badr was laid to rest after his funeral held at the ground of the Punjab University. The funeral ceremony was largely attended by the senior party leadership from across the country, party workers, legal fraternity, leadership of other political parties and a huge number of citizens on Monday.
Badr was died on Monday morning at the National Hospital Defence where he was admitted emergently a night before after having a cardiac arrest. Earlier, he was recovering from kidney complications and staying away from practical politics over the last two years. Born in 1944 in Lahore, Badr started his political career as a student leader from the Punjab University.
He was imprisoned during General Zia's dictatorial regime. He served as a federal minister and a senator and also assumed various party offices. Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, former Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, opposition leader in the Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, advisor to the Chief Minister Sindh Saeed Ghani, former PPP secretary information Qamar Zaman Kaira, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, PMLN Lahore President Muhammad Pervez Malik, Liaqat Baloch from Jamaat-e-Islami, opposition leader in Punjab assembly Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid and a large number of other party notables were prominent at the funeral.
They all paid glowing tributes to the departing soul, saying that the party has suffered a heavy loss with the death of a true political worker. Aitzaz Ahsan said Badr had emerged as a political leader from the level of a political worker he was a mentor of many party workers across the country.
In their separate condolence messages, PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif and other leading politicians had expressed their condolence of his death. They paid him glowing tributes and termed his death as a big loss to the political fraternity of Pakistan. In his message, Bilawal said he was planning to work under his guidance in future.