Pir Pagara Syed Shah Mardan Shah II (1928-2012)

Pir Pagara Syed Shah Mardan Shah II (1928-2012)

Another colorful chapter of Pakistani politics has been closed with sad demise of Pir Pagara Syed Shah Mardan Shah II.

The highly prestigious spiritual and religious leader of the Hur community, hailed from Pir Goth, Khairpur Mirs, held a respectable place not only present but also in the past.

Although he drew strength from his ancestral chieftaincy of the Hur militia, Pir Pagara has a strong political influence. He invented political parties out of obscurity and brought non-entities into political arena.

He used to delight many with his often riddle-like predictions about the future happenings of political affairs and sometimes those proved to be uncannily true.

It is still a secret that it was due his powerful connections or some unique abilities he have. This secrete would have been buried alongside Pir Pagara in the grave.

He has a unique impact on his personality since his childhood. Pir Pagara along with his brother was taken into the care of British rulers after his father was hanged for struggling against British rule in the 1940s.

His education that he got from United Kingdom has a classic impingement on his life particularly his likeness for cricket and horse racing. He earned the education under the supervision of British authorities.

With the efforts of Liquat Ali Khan, he was allowed to come back to Pakistan back in 1951. Soon afterwards, his spiritual position (gadi) returned him.

He was also president of the Pakistan Muslim League Functional (PML-F), since it was awarded him by Miss Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Despite he did not acquire any administrative position in his life, he played very crucial role at almost every stage. He supported the state with his followers in wars of 1965 and 1971.

Pir Pagara has a legendary hold over his community besides his political influence. His part made alliances with many governments and was used to key negotiator at various occasions.

Besides his closes ties with GHQ (Military Headquarter), he has family relations with elite lot of the country including Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.

His demise will leave enormous impacts on politics and his vacuum will be never filled, particularly in terms of negotiations.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jan 12 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.