Zafarullah Khan Jamali

Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was born on Jan 1, 1944 to a Baloch political family of Mir Jaffar Khan Jamali, a close friend of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Roojhan Jamali village of Nasirabad division of Balochistan. His father Mir Shahnawaz Khan Jamali was a landlord.

After his schooling in native village, Jamali went to Lawrence College Ghora Gali Muree where he did his O level and A level. Then, he did his graduation from Government College Lahore and Master in History from Punjab University.

Jamali entered active politics in 1964 during his college days in Lahore. He supported Ms Fatima Jinnah against the then military ruler, Field Martial Mohammad Ayub Khan in the presidential election.

He also went to prison in Lahore along with the other political leaders for supporting Ms Jinnah in the election and taking part in the anti-government rallies and protest procession on directives of the then governor of West Pakistan.

After death of his uncle Mir Jafar Khan Jamali, one of the major leaders of the Pakistan Movement from Balochistan, he decided to pursue career in politics. He didn’t join any part but his family’s other elders remained associated with the Pakistan Muslim League.

Jamali first contested for a provincial assembly seat from his native constituency as an independent candidate after the Balochistan was given the status of a province in 1970, but couldn’t win the election against Sardar Chakar Khan Domki, the son-in-law  of Nawaz Akbar Khan Bugti, who held significant sway in the constituency.

Later, he joined the Pakistan People’s Party and contested the 1977 election from the same constituency. He was elected unopposed to the Balochistan Assembly and appointed as minister for information and food.

After Gen Ziaul Haq sent the PPP government packing on July 5, 1977, Jamali quit the party and joined his cabinet as minister of state for food and agriculture in 1982. He was also appointed minister of local government by the military ruler.

In 1985, he was elected unopposed to the National Assembly from his native constituency and became minister for power and water. He was also appointed as the caretaker chief minister of Balochistan.

In 1988 elections, he contested for the national and provincial assemblies and won both the seats. He was elected as the Balochistan chief minister in the same year. He couldn’t even complete one month as the Balochistan Assembly was dissolved.

In the 1990 elections, Zafarullah Khan Jamali, a candidate of the Islami Jamhoori Ittihad, lost election to Mir Nabi Bukhsh Khosa of the PPP. In the 1993 polls, he won as an independent candidate defeating Khosa.

He became the caretaker chief minister of Balochistan for a second time when the Benazir government was dissolved by Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari in 1996.

In July 2002, Jamali joined the PML’s breakaway Q group as senior executive president and was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly in the same year.

In November, Jamali became Pakistan’s 13th prime minister by a simple majority for five years for the first time after securing 188 votes out of 342 seats in the assembly. He was the first politician from Balochistan to become prime minister of Pakistan.

See Also: Yousuf Raza Gillani – Age, Political Party, Family and Net Worth

He parted ways with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) last year after differences with the party over confrontation with state institutions after Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification.

Jamali, who won as an independent candidate in the 2013 polls, had joined PML-N soon after the election.

Zafarullah Khan Jamali – Age, Political Party, Family and Education