Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali passes away

Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali passed away Wednesday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was battling for life after being placed on a ventilator following a heart attack and severe breathing problems and he was in a critical condition for last three days.

The senior politician was under treatment at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi for respiratory complications and cardiac arrest.

The former prime minister suffered a heart attack last Friday and was shifted to AFIC.

Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was born on Jan 1, 1944 to a Baloch political family of Mir Jaffar Khan Jamali, a close friend of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Roojhan Jamali village of Nasirabad division of Balochistan. His father Mir Shahnawaz Khan Jamali was a landlord.

Originally a supporter of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamali emerged from the politics of Balochistan Province under military governor Rahimuddin Khan during the 1970s. He became a national figure as part of the government of Nawaz Sharif and was Chief Minister of Balochistan for two non-consecutive terms (from June–December 1988 and November 1996 –February 1997).

Although he was a senior leader in the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and Sharif's confidant, relations between Jamali and Sharif cooled and Jamali joined the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) after the 1999 coup led by General Pervez Musharraf.

In the 2002 general election, Jamali won his bid for the office of Prime Minister after his supporters and colleagues crossed party lines to support him. On 21 November 2002, Jamali was appointed the 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan-designate. He took the oath on 23 November 2002, until he unexpectedly announced his resignation in 2004. He was the fifth shortest-serving democratically elected Prime Minister in the history of Pakistan.