Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, the central Secretary General of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazlur Rehman group (JUI-F), was admitted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences late on Wednesday night after suffering a heart attack.Doctors said Haideri’s condition is being closely monitored and that he is receiving treatment at the cardiac unit of the hospital. Maulana Fazlur Rehman visited the hospital to inquire after Haideri’s health.

He was accompanied by Balochistan provincial ameer Maulana Abdul Wasey, Senator Kamran Murtaza, and several other senior leaders of the party, who expressed concern and prayed for his speedy recovery. A seasoned politician, Haideri has served as Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since March 12, 2015, and has held the post of central Secretary General of JUI-F since 1995. 

Born in June 1957 to Muhammad Azam Lehri in the Kalat district of Balochistan, Haideri received his early education in his native village before completing his religious studies in 1979.  He passed examinations conducted by the Wafaq-ul-Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan’s largest federation of Islamic seminaries. In 1984, he established Jamia Shah Wali Ullah in Kalat and taught there until 1990.  

His political activism dates back to the 1970s, when he participated in the Tehrik-e-Khatm-e-Nabowat in 1974 and the Tehreek Nizam-e-Mustafa in 1977, during which he was imprisoned twice. Haideri was elected general secretary of the JUI-F in Quetta district in 1983 and was arrested again on August 14 that year during the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy campaign against the government of President Zia ul Haq. He was sentenced by a military court to ten lashes and one year of imprisonment in Sibi jail. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)