Former Ameer of the Jamat-e-Islami Syed Munawar Hasan, 78, breathed his last on Friday at a local hospital where he was undergoing treatment, reported Geo News.
As per reports, Hasan had been admitted to a local hospital and was shifted to an intensive care unit after his condition deteriorated.
Hasan was born in Delhi in August 5, 1941. After partition in 1947, he moved with his family from Delhi to Lahore and then, from Lahore to Karachi where he pursued his education and politics.
The former JI chief started his politics from the National Students Federation (NSF) and went on to become its president in 1959. He joined the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba organisation in June 1960 and went on to become its president in 1963.
Hasan was respected by his peers in politics and regarded with respect by his rivals. He was the fourth JI chief who led the party from March 2009 to 2014. with the arrival of Siraj ul- Haq as emir of Jamaat Islami and revival of Qazi Hussain Ahmed's populist politics, Syed Munawar Hassan has gone in back ground
“Sirajul Haq followed Qazi Hussain’s style of leadership,” one of the top Jamaat leaders from Lahore told media. On the condition of anonymity because of party discipline, sources said: “He claimed to be more accommodating [in forging alliances with other parties] and avoid controversies because of his experience of working in the coalition government of the MMA [from 2002 to 07] and now with the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”The election of a JI emir has always attracted considerable public interest because of the political ideology it represents and the street power it is supposed to wield, even though the JI has never succeeded in attracting voters to itself. The results have always been predictable, until Haq sprang this surprise.Siraj-ul-Haq had voted out the sitting emir, Syed Munawwar Hasan, for the first time in the party’s history. If this was not significant enough, he defeated another JI stalwart, Liaquat Baloch, a bit of a pragmatist politician himself with his own constant appeal, particularly in Punjab.
There are two points that need to be discussed. One, how is that the Jamaat broke away with its tradition of never voting out a sitting emir, even if it was accepted that Hasan was a somewhat reluctant candidate for re-election? And, two, if the fight effectively was between two more pragmatic, relatively young contestants in Haq and Baloch, how did the Jamaat members distinguish one from the other?
The answers to these questions can be found in the Jamaat’s politics under Hasan who has always been more of an ideologue in the party. It was quite clear that his style of politics created a craving for a return to the days of his predecessor. This is where leaders such as Baloch and Haq emerged as his likely heirs. It was to a large extent Hasan’s own preferences of partners — which saw the Jamaat allying itself with the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — that could have given Haq an edge over Baloch. “Syed Munawwar’s controversial statements undermined the Jamaat’s image outside the party. Siraj will follow Qazi Hussain to repair the JI image.”The statement had drawn a strong response from the army, which had called for an unconditional apology from the JI emir for hurting the feelings of the families of the thousands of Pakistani soldiers who had laid down their lives fighting the terrorists. Though the Jamaat defended its leader after the army condemned his remarks, it distanced itself from his statement by saying it represented Hasan’s “personal views”.
