Naimatullah Khan was the Mayor of Karachi from August 2001 to June 2005. Naimatullah Khan has been involved with Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, and is a senior member of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan.[1]
Early life
Naimatullah Khan was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, British India
on 1 October 1930 to Abdul Shakoor Khan,a railway postmaster and
Bismillah Begum, a housewife. He was the third child of Abdul Shakoor
Khan. He had two elder sisters and two younger brothers. In 1940, his
father died of tuberculosis. The family then moved to Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, British India to live with their maternal relatives.
Migration
Conditions deteriorated in the South Asia in 1940s as the independence neared. In the meantime, Khan's family moved back to Ajmer and Khan was now living with his paternal uncles. Khan briefly volunteered as a national guard for the Pakistan Muslim League rallies where he caught glimpses of national leaders like Qaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan.
It was July 1947 and Khan's departure to newly created Pakistan was
eminent. One day during clashes with the Hindus, Khan and his friends
made fire crackers filled in packs of cigarette and threw them at the
opposition.
Police was in search of Khan and his friends and his uncle
advised him to leave Ajmer for Karachi. Khan obeyed the orders and thus commenced the journey which would change his and his family's life. He left Ajmer alone for Karachi sometime in July 1947. He took a train which took him directly to Karachi via the Rajhastan desert. The train line currently stands suspended. He had a stop at Hyderabad,Pakistan
where he met his father's friend who gave him 10 rupees. Khan's train
was one of the very last trains which completed their journey without
any massacre. Naimatullah Khan spent his first night on a footpath on I.I.Chundrigar road in a place where currently the Cotton Exchange of Pakistan stands.
Early years of struggle 1947–58
Khan describes his life from 1947–1958 as that of struggle and
hardships. A few days after coming to Karachi, Khan was given a small
flat on Burns Road
to live under the migrant claims system prevailing at that time. That
lot of flats were occupied mostly by Hindus who immediately protested to
a Muslim living in the flats and Khan was turned out by the
authorities. Thus Khan had no option but to set up a Jhonpari (straw
house) near a place where later the tomb of Qaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was built. Khan started doing part-time jobs mostly that of a stenographer. He had learned shorthand back at Ajmer which helped him. In the meantime he went back to Ajmer
and brought his younger brother with him to Karachi. Up until this
point Khan was totally uninterested in studies.
His mood changed while
he was preparing for the exam of the prestigious Indian Civil Service.
Although he didn't qualify, this preparation inclined him towards
pursuing higher studies. He had already done his matriculation back at Ajmer. Khan brought his other family members to Karachi
in 1949–50 and they settled with him in the Jhonpari. Both his sisters
were married from this Jhonpari. In the meantime Khan concentrated on
his work and studies. He worked all day from six in the morning to ten
at night doing several part-time jobs. He used to go standing in a truck
to work in the morning reading his course book. Interestingly he never
attended college or university.
He had the responsibility of feeding his
whole family thus he never got time to attend any institution. He
enrolled at the Punjab University and just sat his papers. The highlight of his part-time job career was him working as a stenographer for Jamshed Nusserwanjee Mehta.
Mehta was the first ever mayor of Karachi. He took office in 1934 when
Sindh was for the first time separated from the Bombay Presidency. He
was currently working as Chairman of Sindh Purchasing Board
when Khan worked as his stenographer. Naimatullah Khan later went on to
become the mayor of Karachi himself. Khan completed his intermediate,
BA, and a double MA in journalism and Persian. He also did his LLB. He
then started working in the office of a lawyer. In the meantime Khan and
his family become deeply saddened by the demise of Khan's eldest sister
who died at a very young age.
Khan recalls that he had gone to work and
when he returned he was informed that his sister had died and was even
buried. Lack of communication in those days meant Khan couldn't be
informed of the death. The lawyer whose office Khan worked at once asked
Khan "Naimat, have you completed your studies?". Khan replied yes. He
told Khan to start his own work. This proved to be the turning point in
Khan's financial fortune. He up until then used to earn Rs 225 per
month. He started his work in early 1958 as an income tax lawyer after
taking out a 5000 rupee loan from a friend. He set up his office in Wazir Mansion I.I.Chundrigar Road. Conditions soon turned into his favour. Just months after he set up his work, martial law was imposed in Pakistan and Ayub Khan
announced that whoever had not paid his income tax wont be prosecuted
if he/she paid the tax up until a later date. This proved to be fruitful
for Khan and many people poured into his office each day to file their
tax returns thus providing Khan with loads of clients which meant a
healthy income for him. Khan was finally out of poverty.
Entering politics
Khan was married in 1960. He built himself a proper house in 1967 in
which he lived until 2011. Naimatullah Khan was always inspired by the
writings and works of Maulana Maududi,
the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami. His enternce into politics started as
far back as late 1960s when he helped organise political programs at his
own house. He formally joined the party in 1974 while at Hajj in Makkah. Khan worked diligently for the party slowing rising through the ranks. In 1977 Khan was jailed in Sukkur for holding a rally in Karachi at a time when public gatherings were not allowed due to orders by then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Khan spent three months in jail. Khan recalls how he met the infamous General Niazi
at the Sukkur jail. Martial law was imposed in 1977 and elections were
held in 1979.
Khan was the top most contender to become the mayor of
Karachi. Citing personal issues Khan refused to take the office. Khan at
that time had nine kids most of whom were very young. Khan realised his
children were too young for him to take such an important role. As his
replacement Abdul Sattar Afghani
was made the mayor who served in the capacity until 1987 after getting
re-elected in 1983. Non political elections were held in 1985 and Khan
won the PS-81 constituency from Karachi. He subsequently became the Leader of Opposition of the Sindh Assembly from 1985–88. President Zia-ul-Haq was killed in a plane crash in 1988 and all the prevailing assemblies were dissolved. Khan later became the Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer of Karachi
in 1990. He served in this capacity until 2001 when he had to resign to
take the office of the Mayor of Karachi. In the meantime Khan also
retired from his law practice in 1991 after a 34-year career.
Mayor of Karachi
Martial Law was imposed on 12 October 1999. President Musharraf formulated the new system of CDGK
(City District Government Karachi). Elections were held in 2001 and
Jamaat-e-Islami was able to win 12 town nazim seats out of 20.
Naimatullah Khan serving at that time as the party Ameer of Karachi was
nominated as the contender for the Mayor of Karachi. Having already won
the majority, he was elected as the first mayor of the newly formed
local body system. During his tenure he oversaw the Taameer-e-Karachi
program aimed at improving the infrastructure of Karachi. He achieved
over the years of his tenure to increase the budget of Karachi from 6
billion rupees to 43 billion rupees. He passed various projects such as
18 flyovers, six underpasses, two signal free roads and a huge water
supply scheme for the people of Karachi. It was the first time in the
history of Karachi that all the stake holders were incorporated for the
developmental works. He was also the person behind the project which
built dozens of Model Town Parks in Karachi.
Personal life
Khan was married in 1960 to Tahira Khatoon. He has seven sons and two
daughters. All are married. His wife died in 1994 after a protracted
illness. His grand daughter born in 1995 from his second son Nadeem was
named Tahira, in memory of his deceased wife. He had two sisters, both
of whom have died; one of his brothers is also dead. His sons are
Waseem, Nadeem, Faheem, Kaleem, Naeem, Asim, Nazim. His daughters are
Gohar Lubna and Gohar Afshan. All the sons' middle name is "Iqbal" after
the late sister of Khan whose name was Iqbal. Khan also wrote a book
called "Roshni ka safar" that talked about all the work he had done as
mayor.
Charity work
After retiring from politics in 2005, Khan took the office of the President of Alkhidmat Foundation an NGO. He served in that capacity until 2011 when due to age and illness he just decided to look after the southern region of Alkhidmat Foundation. He has extensively worked in the Thar region of Pakistan since 1997 trying to bring that area out of problems such as acute water shortages and illiteracy.
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