OBITUARY: Jamaat leader Munawar Hasan passes away.

Byline: Imran Ayub

KARACHI -- Syed MunaAwar Hasan, a former chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, pasAsed away on Friday after a long illness. He was 78.

The JI stalwart was admitted to a private hospital in North Nazimabad a couple of weeks ago and since then was battling multiple diseases from which he had been suffering for the past few years.

'After initial treatment he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit,' accoArding to a Jamaat spokAeAsman. 'He was put on the ventilator last week after his condition deteriorated, but couldn't survive.'

Munawar Hasan is survived by wife Ayesha MunAaAwar, who is a leader of the JI women's wing, a daughter and a son.

Born in New Delhi in AugAust 1941, Mr Hasan migrated to PakiAstan with his parents, who were teachers in their neighbourhood.

The late leader did his masters in sociology from the University of Karachi in 1963 and then another masters in Islamic Studies from the same university in 1966.

It was during his student days when he showed a passion for political activism and joined the National Students Federation, the most popular platform for student politics in those days.

The party's leadership was quick to spot his potential and lent him an opportunity to hone his talent by electing him as their Karachi president.

But an ideological shift was in the offing. Munawar Hasan met the founding chief of JaAmAaat, Maulana Abul Aala Maududi, a numAber of times. These sessions inspired him to change course and join the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba - a student wing of JI - in 1960.

He rose to several positions in the student organisation and was eventually elected its Nazim-i-Aala (Pakistan chief) for three consecutive terms.

After completing his education and student activism, he became a part of the Jamaat-i-Islami in 1968.

He served as the party's Karachi chief and its secretary general before reaching the top. In 2009, he was elected as its fourth chief after Qazi Hussain Ahmed stepped down.

In the 1977 general election, Mr Hasan was the country's highest vote-getter, defeating poet and academic Jamiluddin Aali from a Karachi constituency.

The latter was a candidate of the PakisAtan Peoples Party.

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