Qazi laid to rest

Veteran politician and former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad was laid to rest on Sunday in his ancestral graveyard at Ziarat Kaka Sahib, District Nowshera.
Ahmed was a cardiac and asthma patient and was admitted to a private hospital in Islamabad for the last three days, where he passed away on Sunday night. Ahmed is survived by two sons and two daughters to mourn his death.
JI chief Syed Munawar Hassan led the funeral prayers and were attended by thousands of JI workers, supporters, sympathisers and various religious and political figures. The funeral prayers were held on Motorway Ring Road, Peshawar. Political figures who attended the funeral prayers were Fazlur Rehman, Javed Hashmi, Samiul Haq, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Professor Khursheed Ahmed, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Hamid Gul, Tariq Jamil, Salahuddin Ayubi, Ameer Muqam and Saddiqul Farooq.
Ahmed, 74, completed his early education at home and later took admission in Islamia College, Peshawar and did his master’s in geography from Peshawar University.
He was born in Nowshera on 1938. Ahmed played a key role in the national politics and served JI from 1987 to 2009.
He became member of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1970 and was elected to the office of President of its Peshawar branch. Later, he served Jamaat-e-Islami as Secretary and then chief of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Later, Ahmed was elevated to the office of secretary general, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in 1978 and thereafter elected chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in 1987 and continued to serve in that capacity, getting re-elected for four more times (1992, 1994, 1999, 2003).
In 2008, he had the distinction for being elected on more than one national assembly seats. He contested elections from NA-5 Nowshera I and was elected on several occasions.
He always tried and wanted to unite various religious factions and groups and played an imported role in making the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in 2002. He served as president of the MMA. He also played an active role in making of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), an alliance of right-wing political parties.
He was arrested during Tehreek-e-Nizam-e-Mustafa movement in 1977 and was later again imprisoned when he took out a protest rally against American aggression in Afghanistan.
Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and chief minister offered their condolences and called it a great loss.
Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, among others, also offered condolences.
Last November, he escaped an attack unhurt when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near his convoy in Mohmand Agency.