LAHORE - PPP stalwart and former federal minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar was laid to rest here at Defence Housing Authority (DHA) graveyard on Wednesday evening.
The veteran politician had breathed his last in the early hours of Wednesday after protracted illness. Politicians and people from various walks of life attended his last rites. Former federal minister was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and was admitted to Shalimar Hospital, a health facility his family helped develop.
As per his family sources, Ahmed Mukhtar had undergone cardiac surgery in the United States sometime ago and had been suffering health complications since then. Expressing his grief over the death, former foreign minister Asif Ahmed Ali lauded Mukhtar’s services for the party. “Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar was a bold, courageous and loyal companion,” he said.
Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the demise of Ch Mukhtar, saying he was a leader in true letter and spirit and an asset for the party. He said the party would always miss him.
Member of a political family from Gujrat, arch rival of Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi’s family, Mukhtar joined active politics in 1990 by contesting elections against now PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Husain. He defeated Shujaat in 1993 and 2008 polls.
He served as commerce minister in Benazir Bhutto government between 1993-96 and as defence as well as water & power ministers in Yousaf Raza Gillani cabinet between 2008-13.
However, for the last couple of years he was no more active in politics because of health issues.
