Former caretaker PM Balakh Sher Mazari passes away aged 94

For­mer caretaker prime mi­­nister Sardar Mir Balakh Sher Khan Mazari passed away on Friday.

He was 94.

As reported, senior politician and also the chief of the Mazari tribe, was under treatment at a private health facility in Lahore for the past few months.

Born in 1928 in Kot Karam, Mazari was among those tribal chiefs who, in 1951-52, signed the annexation of nine tribal territories of Baloch tribes residing in the Koh-i-Sulaiman range, with Punjab.

Mir Balakh Sher Khan was the 22nd sardar and seventh Mir of the Mazari tribe.

He served as country’s caretaker prime minister, after Nawaz Sharif’s government was dismissed by the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1993.

However, his tenure ended soon after the Apex Court revoked the presidential order, and reinstated Nawaz Sharif back as the prime minister.

For those unserved, his son Riyaz Mazari and grandson Dost Muhammad Mazari, former deputy spea­ker of Punjab Assembly, are active in national and provincial parliamentary politics.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his grief over the death of the ex-caretaker prime minister, saying that the services of Balakh Sher Mazari for the nation will be remembered forever.

“Mir Balakh Sher Mazari was a veteran Baloch politician who played leading role in the country’s politics. Our national politics is poorer with his death. He belonged to a breed of public servants who believe in values & principles. My heartfelt condolences to his family & friends,” PM said in a tweet.