Zafarullah Khan Jamali

Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali (1 January 1944 – 2 December 2020) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 2002 to 2004. He was the first and only elected prime minister from Balochistan, Pakistan.

Born into the Jamali family, he was originally a supporter of the Pakistan People's Party and emerged from the politics of Balochistan 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 military 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 13th prime minister of Pakistan-designate. He was sworn in on 23 November 2002, serving until he unexpectedly announced his resignation in 2004. He is the fifth shortest-serving democratically elected prime minister in the history of Pakistan.

Early life and education Zafarullah Jamali was born on 1 January 1944 and landlord family in Rojhan village of Commissariat Baluchistan of the British Indian Empire, now Jaffarabad District in Balochistan, Pakistan.

Jamali received his early education at Lawrence College, Murree and A-levels from Aitchison College, Lahore. Jamali was a great hockey player in his time. He then studied at Government College, Lahore for a bachelor's degree. He received his master's degree in political science at the University of the Punjab in 1965.

After the imposition of martial law in Pakistan by General Zia-ul-Haq, he was allied to Zia-ul-Haq.

Jamali ran for the seat of National Assembly in the 1990 Pakistani general elections, but was defeated by a PPP candidate.

In November 2002, Jamali became the 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan by a simple majority for five years for the first time after securing 188 votes out of 342 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan. He was the first politician from Balochistan to become prime minister of Pakistan. Jamali announced donations of 300 buses and trucks, scholarships for Afghan students and aid for improvement of road, railway and hospital projects in Afghanistan.

Jamali vowed to improve relations with India immediately after assuming office and procuring a peace agreement and cease-fire in the disputed Kashmir region. He appointed a special envoy to improve relations and lessen tensions between the two countries which had arisen during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Resignation In June 2004, Jamali abruptly announced his resignation on television after a three-hour meeting with Musharraf. There had been rumours of Jamali's strained relationship with Musharraf on the execution of government policies. According to media reports, resignation became inevitable when Musharraf became unhappy with Jamali's performance and his failure to strongly endorse Musharraf's policies. Jamali was the fifth shortest-serving prime minister of Pakistan.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal was initially surprised; the mainstream parties saw Jamali's resignation as "forced and humiliation for democracy" and "bad for the future". With his surprise announcement, Jamali dissolved the cabinet and nominated his party's president Shujaat Hussain as interim prime minister.

In 2008, he resigned as its president after the national hockey team performed poorly at the Olympic Games.

In May 2013, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League (N). He remained a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2013 until his resignation in May 2018.

In June 2018, he quit PML-N and joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Death On 29 November 2020, Jamali was admitted to Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology and put on a ventilator after suffering a cardiac arrest. He died in Rawalpindi on 2 December 2020 at the age of 76. On 3 December 2020, after funeral prayers, Jamali was laid to rest in his native village.