Abdul Sattar Afghani ( ur, عبدالستار افغانی; 6 July 1930 – 4 November 2006) was a politician from Karachi, Pakistan. He was twice elected Mayor of Karachi and once an elected member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

(MNA).

Background

Afghani had Persian-speaking Afghan Tajik heritage; his ancestors migrated from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and settled in Bombay and Karachi. Afghani's family were residents of Karachi's Lyari neighourhood, living near the Pathan Mosque in Moosa Lane. His uncle wanted him to join the Indian National Congress youth wing, but

Maulana Maudoodi Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the parti ...

convinced him to join

Jamaat e Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British Raj, British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Abul Ala Maududi, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, Wa ...

instead. His mother tongue was Persian, but he was also fluent in other local languages such as Sindhi, Balochi, Gujarati and Pashto. He was an alumnus of the University of Karachi.

Political career

Mayor of Karachi

He was first elected mayor in 1979, serving until 1983.Profile
. Retrieved 1 October 2010 He was then reelected the same year and served until 1987. He was known for his outspokenness for the rights of the city. He was arrested and removed from his office when he was leading a procession of councilors from KMC Building to the Sindh Secretariat to protest against the provincial government's decision not to part with motor-vehicle tax and property tax in favour of KMC.

National Assembly

He was first elected as a member of Basic democracies system by

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

in 1960s, in 1970s he contested general elections against PPP's Abdul Sattar Gabol from Lyari but lost the election, in 1985 he contested on the same seat against PPP's Ghulam Mohammad Chishti but again lost the election. Afghani finally managed to win a seat in the National Assembly in 2002 from Karachi ( NA 250, Karachi XII).

Family

Afghani married at the age of 17 and had four sons and three daughters.

Death

Afghani died in November 2006 at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. He was buried in the Mewa Shah Graveyard in Lyari.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afghani, Abdul Sattar 1930 births 2006 deaths Mayors of Karachi Pakistani people of Afghan descent Pakistani people of Tajik descent Politicians from Karachi Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan politicians University of Karachi alumni Burials at Mewa Shah Graveyard