Former Punjab CM Mian Manzoor Wattoo passes away

OKARA: Former Chief Minister of Punjab and senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Mian Manzoor Wattoo passed away on Tuesday. He was 86.

His grandson, columnist Hassan Kamal Wattoo, posted about the former CM’s demise on social media platform X.

“With profound sorrow, we announce the passing of my beloved grandfather, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo,” he said, adding that funeral prayers would be held at the Wasawewala stadium in Okara at 2pm on Wednesday.

According to sources, Mian Manzoor Wattoo had been suffering from a prolonged illness. The schedule for his funeral prayers will be announced later.

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed deep grief over his demise, a post on the Presidency’s X account said.

It added that the president paid tribute to Wattoo’s “invaluable public service, role in strengthening democracy, and contributions to national unity”.

State-run APP reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condoled his death, saying in a statement that “services of late Manzoor Wattoo for the country’s politics will always be remembered”.

The politician was first elected chairman of the Okara district council in 1983 and became a member of the Punjab Assembly in 1985. He was also elected speaker of the assembly at the time.

In 1988, Wattoo was again elected as an MPA (independent) and soon joined the Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League, which was part of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) at the time. This time too, Wattoo became speaker of the house.

In 1993, he was elected as MNA and MPA from the IJI’s platform but opted to remain in Punjab, becoming speaker for the third time in a row.

After the 1993 election, Wattoo dislodged the provincial government of PML-N’s Ghulam Haider Wyne through a vote of no-confidence and became the chief minister with PPP’s support.

The PPP, which had been unable to recapture Punjab, had to accept Wattoo as chief minister in exchange for the PML-Junejo’s support for it in Islamabad. Back then, Wattoo had with him just 17 MPAs in the provincial assembly against the PPP’s 92.

After Wattoo had a fall out with PPP in 1995, then-prime minister Benazir Bhutto installed Arif Nakai, another PML-Junejo man, as the new chief minister.

The same year, he formed PML-Jinnah after parting ways with his cousin, Hamid Nasir Chattha, who wanted to become president of PML-Junejo.

In 1996, Wattoo became MNA from the PML-Jinnah platform. He faced corruption references and was convicted in a case. Wattoo was in jail for a few months and was later moved to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology on health grounds. His hospital room was declared sub-jail and he stayed there for over two years.

After his acquittal, he joined Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) during the regime of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. He was considered to be a close friend of the former president and had agreed to merge his PML-Jinnah into PML-Q on Musharraf’s advice.

Wattoo later joined the PPP just after getting elected as an independent candidate in the 2008 general election, which he won from both NA-146 (Okara-IV) and NA-147 (Okara-V). Wattoo decided to retain the NA-146 seat and his son Khurram Jehangir was later elected on a PPP ticket in the by-election for NA-147.

Wattoo was made PPP’s Punjab president in October 2012. He also served as federal minister for Kashmir affairs during the 2008-2013 PPP-led coalition government.

Wattoo was known for being a master of the art of carving his way out to important positions in nearly every setup and his elevation to the PPP’s command in Punjab was shocking to many among the party’s provincial cadre.

Wattoo joined the PTI in September 2018, after he violated the PPP discipline by contesting the July 25 general election as an independent candidate against the party nominee.

Last year, he rejoined the PPP.