Who was Hakim Ali Zardari?

Zardari from the Persian compound meaning “Holder of Money” or “Wealthy”, is a Sindhi speaking tribe of Baloch origin also known as Sindhi Baloch.

Historically Zardari tribe was settled in the province of Sindh from Balochistan. Over the years the Zardari tribe gradually lost their native language “Balochi” and adopted Sindhi as their first language.

Some of the Zardari tribe are bilingual speak both Balochi and Sindhi especially those who resides in the provinceof Sindh. It is estimated almost 40% of Sindhis of Pakistan are of Baloch origin. The Zardaris are largely Shia Muslims.

Hakim Ali Zardari was born in 1930. He is a landlord and agriculturist of Nawabshah District. His father’s name is Muhammad Hussain Zardari. His grand father’s name is Sajawal Khan Zardari.

His grand father Sajawal Zardari was also in politics in the period of British rule over PakIndia. Hakim Ali Zardari also took part in politics and was elected as Member District Council Nawabshah in the start of his political career. He was elected as Member National Assembly (MNA) on PPP ticket from in General Election 1970. He resigned from PPP due to differences from some party office bearers and joined Awami National Party (ANP).

He contested in non-party based General Election 1985 in the period of General Ziaul Haq but he could not succeed.

Hakim Ali Zardari started his political career in 1965 when he was elected as the member of District Council Nawabshah and later elected as the Vice President of the Divisional Council. During the period he played key role in the development of Nawabshah and the people of the city still remembered his services in this respect.

After Bhutto’s death, Zardari had a rift with the local leadership of PPP and left the party to join the National Democratic Party (NDP), an off shoot of the National Awami Party that had been banned by the government. Because of his good relations with Wali Khan, he was made the president of NDP. The party was subsequently restructured under the name of Awami National Party.

During Presidential Election 1965, Hakim Ali Zardari supported Fatima Jinnah against the then President Ayub Khan and after termination of the latter’s government, he joined PPP in 1970 as one of its founder members. He was elected as the President of Zardari tribe in a convention held in Latif Hall Nawabshah the same year.

Published by alaiwah

ALAIWAH'S PHILOSOPHY About 12 years ago, while studying Arabic in Cairo, I became friends with some Egyptian students. As we got to know each other better we also became concerned about each other’s way of life. They wanted to save my soul from eternally burning in hell by converting me to Islam. I wanted to save them from wasting their real life for an illusory afterlife by converting them to the secular worldview I grew up with. In one of our discussions they asked me if I was sure that there is no proof for God’s existence. The question took me by surprise. Where I had been intellectually socialized it was taken for granted that there was none. I tried to remember Kant’s critique of the ontological proof for God. “Fine,” Muhammad said, “but what about this table, does its existence depend on a cause?” “Of course,” I answered. “And its cause depends on a further cause?” Muhammad was referring to the metaphysical proof for God’s existence, first formulated by the Muslim philosopher Avicenna. Avicenna argues, things that depend on a cause for their existence must have something that exists through itself as their first cause. And this necessary existent is God. I had a counter-argument to that to which they in turn had a rejoinder. The discussion ended inconclusively. I did not convert to Islam, nor did my Egyptian friends become atheists. But I learned an important lesson from our discussions: that I hadn’t properly thought through some of the most basic convictions underlying my way of life and worldview — from God’s existence to the human good. The challenge of my Egyptian friends forced me to think hard about these issues and defend views that had never been questioned in the milieu where I came from. These discussions gave me first-hand insight into how deeply divided we are on fundamental moral, religious and philosophical questions. While many find these disagreements disheartening, I will argue that they can be a good thing — if we manage to make them fruitful for a culture debate. Can we be sure that our beliefs about the world match how the world actually is and that our subjective preferences match what is objectively in our best interest? If the truth is important to us these are pressing questions. We might value the truth for different reasons: because we want to live a life that is good and doesn’t just appear so; because we take knowing the truth to be an important component of the good life; because we consider living by the truth a moral obligation independent of any consequences; or because we want to come closer to God who is the Truth. Of course we wouldn’t hold our beliefs and values if we weren’t convinced that they are true. But that’s no evidence that they are. Weren’t my Egyptian friends just as convinced of their views as I was of mine? More generally: don’t we find a bewildering diversity of beliefs and values, all held with great conviction, across different times and cultures? If considerations such as these lead you to concede that your present convictions could be false, then you are a fallibilist. And if you are a fallibilist you can see why valuing the truth and valuing a culture of debate are related: because you will want to critically examine your beliefs and values, for which a culture of debate offers an excellent setting.

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