Hanif Ramay passes away
Former Punjab Chief Minister, writer and intellectual
Muhammad Hanif Ramay passed away on Sunday afternoon at the age of 75.
He was suffering from pneumonia and respiratory problem. Late Ramay was admitted
to National Hospital, Defence, on November 28 and breathed his last at 4:15 pm
on Sunday.
According to his son Ibrahim Ramay, the condition of his father worsened on
Sunday and he passed away peacefully from multi-organs failure.
Ramay had a son Ibrahim Ramay, daughter Dr Maryam Ramay and his second wife
Joice Ramay (Sakina), an American national.
His funeral will be taken out from his residence at Defence, Lahore on Monday
(today) at 2:00 pm. Funeral prayer will be offered at Jamia Masjid, Defence,
near Masjid Chowk. He is likely to be buried within the premises of Punjab Arts
Council at Shah Jamal, Lahore.
A man of many characters, Ramay was a politician, painter, intellectual and a
socialist.
He was born in Sheikhupura in 1931 and was the fourth among his six siblings. In
his early age, his father Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain had migrated to Lahore from
Sheikhupura and started living there, where he completed his matriculation.
Since his family was involved in printing and publication business, he also used
to work with his father at a printing press (Maktaba Jadeed) in Lohari Gate.
Ramay did his Masters in Economics from Government College Lahore and in 1960,
he brought out a monthly journal ‘Nusrat’ which was later turned into a weekly.
In the ‘Nusrat’, he along with other scholars and thinkers of his age opened
debate on Islamic Socialism, which later became the basic ideology of Pakistan
People’s Party. He was also the first chief editor of daily ‘Musawat’ launched
in 1970.
Ramay became member of the provincial assembly after general election of 1971
and was made Punjab Minister for Finance. In 1974, he was elected as Punjab
chief minister and occupied this slot for sixteen months until he was replaced
by Nawab Sadiq Hussain Qureshi. Ramay had replaced Ghulam Mustafa Khar.
In 1975, he parted ways with ZA Bhutto and left PPP. He also underwent
sixteen-month imprisonment in Shahi Fort, Kot Lakhpat Jail and Attock Fort and
was set free when General Ziaul Haq had taken over in 1977.
After his release, Ramay formed Pakistan Musawat Party (PMP), which remained
dissociated from opposition’s eleven party alliance of Movement for Restoration
of Democracy (MRD). The PMP was later merged with National People’s Party (NPP)
with former prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi elected as its president and
Ramay as general secretary.
In 1990, Ramay rejoined his original party, the PPP during Benazir Bhutto’s
government and was made general secretary of PPP’s Policy and Planning
Committee. On the PPP ticket, he also tried his luck in the general election of
1990 from Baghbanpura, but could not make it to the provincial assembly this
time.
However, in 1993 elections, he was elected as MPA from Lahore on PPP ticket. He
then enjoyed the distinction being the only MPA from PPP in Lahore as all nine
MNAs and 17 MPAs contesting on PPP ticket lost their seats. In 1997, he
contested on MNA seat using PPP platform against Mian Shahbaz Sharif but was
unlucky to get elected.
In 1980s, he wrote a book “Punjab Ka Muqadma” which left deep impacts on the
political fabric of the country. After year 1997, he also authored two more
books in USA, namely “The Second Adam” and “Again”. He also wrote two books
“Dubbay Akbar” and “Baaz Aao aur Zinda Raho”. Quite recently, he wrote another
book “Islam Ki Rohani Qadrain: Mot Nahien Zindagi” (Spiritual values of Islam:
Not Death but Life).
Meanwhile, the political leaders expressed their deep grief and sorrow over the
sad demise of former chief ministers Punjab Hanif Ramay.
Entire PPP leadership including Aitzaz Ahsan, Sheikh Rafique Ahmad, Punjab
President PPP, Qasim Zia, Central Deputy Secretary Information, Altaf Ahmad
Qureshi, Punjab Secretary Information, Naveed Ch, Deputy Secretary Information,
Iqbal Sialvi, Lahore Vice President, Ahsan Ganjial, MPA’s Samiullah Khan, Raja
Riaz and Rana Aftab have condoled over Ramay’s death.
President MMA and Amir JI Qazi Hussain Ahmad termed Hanif Ramay a patriot who
throughout his political career followed democratic principles and values. He
said that he remained in politics for a long period.
JI leaders Mian Tufail Muhammad, Prof Ghafoor, Ch Rahmat Elahi, Ch Muhammad
Aslam Saleemi, Liaqat Baloch, Hafiz Muhammad Idrees, Syed Munawar Hasan, Dr
Farid Paracha, Malik Muhammad Ashraf and Mian Maqsood also expressed their shock
and grief over the demise of Hanif Ramay.
