Zahoor Ellahi

Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, a police constable in pre-Partition days, came from the lower middle class and had no political background. After the birth of Pakistan, he bought a textile mill and, in the early 1950s, entered local politics with the support of a local influential, Chaudhry Fazl Elahi, who became president of the country when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was prime minister. Zahoor Elahi, however, soon fell out with Fazl Elahi and formed his own faction on the strength of the sizeable Jat clan that has traditionally opposed Gujarat's traditional elite, the Nawabzadgan of the Gujjar clan.

 

 

Chaudhry clan of Gujarat, who have always been known to support the military establishment. And, not.

surprisingly, their biradari tops the list of those political families of Pakistan who have been the main beneficiaries of all military regimes. They have served the military establishment loyally since the days of General Ayub Khan, , Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, was appointed secretary-general of the Convention Muslim League that had been cobbled together by the military dictator to serve his interests

           In return for state patronage, hefty bank loans and write-offs, Zahoor Elahi and his family, comprising his sons and nephews, always joined hands with military rulers from General Ayub Khan (1958-68) to General Zia-ul-Haq (1977-88) and General Pervez Musharraf (October 1999) and have served them well. Elahi's family is now one of the leading industrial houses, owning sugar, textile and flour mills, in addition to agricultural farms.

          .

           Zahoor Elahi was a bitter opponent of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and was detained for several years during his tenure, on charges which did not stand in a court of law, and was later declared a 'prisoner of conscience' by Amnesty International.

            When General Zia-ul-Haq took over, he released Elahi and made him a federal minister in his cabinet. It was Elahi who presented him the pen with which Zia-ul-Haq signed Mr Bhutto's death warrant. In September 1981, Elahi was shot dead in Lahore and the blame was laid at the doorstep of his political opponents, the Al-Zulfikar, Murtaza Bhutto's organisation.

 BY

Naseem Soherwardy