Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as his full name was born to on 1st January, 1944 at Dera Murad Jamali, Balochistan during the British Raj. His father Haji Shahnawaz Khan Jamali was a political, religious and landlord family of Rojhan village situated in Nasirabad District in Balochistan.
He received his early education at Lawrence College, Murree and A levels from Aitchison College, Lahore. He then studied in a Government College, Lahore for a Bachelor’s degree. He received his Master’s degree in Political Science at the University of the Punjab in 1965.
ZAFARULLAH KHAN JAMALI
Born on 1 Jan 1944
Died on 2 Dec 2020
15th Prime Minister of Pakistan
He began his political career in 1970 and joined PPP. Jamali took part in Pakistani general election, 1970 for the first time, but lost it. He was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan for the first time in Pakistani general election, 1977 on a PPP ticket. He was appointed a provincial minister in the provincial cabinet of Nawab Mohammad Khan Barozai in Balochistan . As part of the new government in 1972, Jamali was appointed provincial home minister and Minister of Food, Information and Parliamentary Affairs in the Balochistan provisional cabinet.
In General Election of 1977, he was re-elected as the Member of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan for the second time. He briefly held portfolios for the departments of Food, Information, Law and Parliamentary Affairs. He left the PPP in 1977.
After the imposition of martial law in Pakistan by General Zia-ul-Haq, he was allied to Zia-ul-Haq. He was appointed as a Minister of State in the federal cabinet by General Zia-ul-Haq.
In 1985 General Elections, he was elected as the Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from Nasirabad constituency and was inducted into the federal cabinet of Muhammad Khan Junejo and was given the portfolio of Federal Minister of Water and Power.
He was appointed as the caretaker Chief Minister of Balochistan in 1988 after General Zia-ul-Haq dismissed the Government of Muhammad Khan Junejo. He was re-elected as the member of the provincial assembly of Balochistan in 1988 Pakistani general election and became the chief minister of Balochistan.
Jamali ran for the seat of National Assembly in the 1990 General Elections, but was defeated by a PPP candidate. He was re-elected as the member of the Provincial Assembly in 1993 General elections on the PML ticket and defeated a PPP nominee.
He was elected as the member of the Senate of Pakistan in 1994 and again in 1997. He was re-appointed caretaker as the chief minister of Balochistan in 1997.
In July 2002, Jamali joined the Pakistan Muslim League’s breakaway Pakistan Muslim League (Q). He was re-elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2002 General Election.
In November 2002, Jamali became the 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan by a simple majority for five years for the first time after securing 188 votes out of 342 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan. He was the first politician from Balochistan to become prime minister of Pakistan. Since no party had an exclusive mandate, his election as Prime Minister followed weeks of negotiation. He formed a coalition Government with MQM, MMA, PPPP and the splinter group of the Pakistan Muslim League. He oversaw Pakistan’s transition from two-party to multi-party democracy.
In October 2003 he visited the United States, meeting with President George W. Bush and vowing to support the US in the War on terror. He vowed to improve relations with India immediately after assuming office and procuring a peace agreement and cease-fire in the disputed Kashmir region. He appointed a special envoy to improve relations and lessen tensions between the two countries which had arisen during the 1990s and early 2000s.
In 2004, he visited Afghanistan which was the first highest-level visit from Pakistan since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001 which was an ally of Pakistan. He supported Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan and assured him of cooperation between the Governments of both countries in everything, from Trade to Terrorism. He also announced donations of 300 buses and trucks, scholarships for Afghan students and aid for improvement of Road, Railway and Hospital projects in Afghanistan.
In June 2004, Jamali abruptly announced his resignation on television after a three-hour meeting with Musharraf. There had been rumours of his strained relationship with Musharraf on the execution of government policies. According to media reports, resignation became inevitable when Musharraf became unhappy with his performance and his failure to strongly endorse Musharraf’s policies.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal was initially surprised by this decision and as a mainstream party saw his resignation as forced and humiliation for the democracy which is bad for the future. His resignation will further destabilize the system and can lead the country to a political crisis. With his surprise announcement, he immediately dissolved the cabinet and nominated his party’s President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as interim Prime Minister. Weeks after his resignation, it was revealed that it came as the result of deteriorating relations with Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
After resigning, he pursued his passion for the Field Hockey. In 2004, he became President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation in place of Tariq Kirmani and vowed to solve the problems facing the Pakistan Hockey Federation and revive the Pakistan Men’s National Field Hockey team. He previously played high-level hockey for Aitchison College, Government College Lahore and then represented Punjab in National Hockey Championship and acted as Chief-de-Mission for the 1984 Summer Olympics and was Chief Selector for the National Hockey team. In 2008, he resigned as its president after the national hockey team performed poorly at the Olympic Games, where Pakistan team finished at eight positions – its worst performance ever.
In May 2013, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League (N). He remained a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2013 until his resignation in May 2018. In June 2018, he quit PML-N and joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
On 29th November, 2020, he was admitted to Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology and put on a ventilator after suffering from a cardiac arrest. He died in Rawalpindi on 2nd December, 2020 at the age of 76. The coffin of Mr Jamali was shifted to Islamabad where an army contingent presented a salute to the deceased. The body was then shifted to Jacobabad in a special flight from where it was taken to Rojhan Jamali in Balochistan in an ambulance.
On 3rd December, 2020, after funeral prayers, he was laid to rest in his native village, Rojhan Jamali.