LAHORE - An eminent political personality of Pakistan, ex-Senator Gulzar Ahmed Khan died here yesterday after protracted illness. He was 80.
Late Gulzar was under treatment for heart and lung ailments at Doctors Hospital. His funeral would be taken out from his Gulberg residence on tomorrow as the family is waiting for the children of Ammar Ahmad Khan, his youngest son, to arrive from USA. Qul would be held on Wednesday at 4pm.
Senator Gulzar had very cordial relations with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who would stay at his residence (Gulzar House) whenever she visited Lahore from 1988 to 1993. The PPP’s provincial secretariat at Faisal Town Lahore has been set up in a house owned by Gulzar who donated it to party long ago.
He joined the PPP during the MRD movement in the mid-eighties and remained associated with it till 1999. Gulzar held key federal ministries and remained special assistant for provincial coordination to the prime minister.
He supported General Musharraf when the latter came to power in October 1999 as a result of military coup.
An Advocate by profession, he started his political career as B.D. Member in 1965 and was elected Chairman, Naivela Union Council, DI Khan.
He was also running four charitable dispensaries in DI Khan before his death.
His family has a historic parliamentary representation in the Upper House. Gulzar and his brother Mukhtar Ahmed Khan were elected to the Upper House where as his spouse Razia Sultana served as a member of the Lower House.
The family created history when Gulzar and his son Waqar Ahmed Khan became members of the Senate simultaneously in 1994. Both father and the son returned to the Upper House as Senators from the NWFP again in 2003 by securing the largest number of votes from the provincial assembly.
It is unique example in country’s history that his younger son, Ammar Khan was also elected as a Senator from NWFP in March 2006 to join his father and brother . In 2005, Gulzar’s brother and former Senator Mukhtar Ahmed Khan, was elected District Nazim of DI Khan. Apart from politics, Gulzar also made his name as a big land developer. He retired as Senator in March 2015.