Former Punjab CM Manzoor Wattoo passes away

Okara (Web Desk): Mian Manzoor Wattoo, former Chief Minister of Punjab and a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), passed away on Tuesday after a long battle with illness, family sources said. The timing and venue for his funeral prayers will be announced later.

Born on August 14, 1939, Wattoo began his political journey in 1983 when he was elected chairman of the Okara District Council. Just two years later, he entered the Punjab Assembly and was appointed its speaker, marking the start of a prominent political career.

In 1988, he returned to the Punjab Assembly as an independent legislator before joining Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, which was part of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), and was again chosen as speaker.

In the 1993 elections, Wattoo won seats in both the National Assembly and Punjab Assembly on the IJI ticket, opting to serve in the provincial legislature, where he was elected speaker for a third consecutive term.

Later that year, he successfully led a no-confidence motion that ousted Ghulam Haider Wyne’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. With backing from the PPP, Wattoo became Punjab’s chief minister, despite having support from only a small group of dissenting lawmakers.

Wattoo’s association with the PPP ended in 1995, and Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto appointed Arif Nakai as the new chief minister of Punjab. He formed the Pakistan Muslim League-Jinnah after differences with his cousin Hamid Nasir Chattha, who sought leadership of PML-Junejo.

In 1996, Manzoor Wattoo won a National Assembly seat under the PML-Jinnah banner but later faced corruption allegations that resulted in a brief imprisonment.

After being cleared, Wattoo joined the Pakistan Muslim League–Quaid during General Pervez Musharraf’s era. Known to share a close relationship with Musharraf, he merged his PML-Jinnah faction into PML-Q on the former president’s advice.

Following the 2008 general elections, Wattoo, contesting as an independent, won two National Assembly seats in Okara. He rejoined the PPP, retaining one seat while his son Khurram Jehangir secured the other in a by-election on a PPP ticket.

In October 2012, he was appointed as PPP Central Punjab president. Wattoo also served as federal minister for Kashmir affairs during the PPP-led government from 2008 to 2013.