Syed Qaim Ali Shah

{{Short description|Pakistani politician (born 1924)}} {{BLP sources|date=January 2015}} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = MPA | name = Syed Qaim Ali Shah | native_name = سید قائم علی شاہ | native_name_lang = ur | image = Syed Qaim Ali Shah (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = | order1 = 170th Chief Minister of Sindh | office1 = | term_start1 = 30 May 2013 | term_end1 = 25 July 2016 | alongside1 = | deputy1 = | lieutenant1 = | monarch1 = | president1 = Mamnoon Hussain | prime_minister1 = Nawaz Sharif | taoiseach1 = | chancellor1 = | governor1 = Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan | governor-general1 = | governer_general1 = | succeeded1 = Syed Murad Ali Shah | preceded1 = Zahid Qurban Alvi | majority1 = | order2 = | office2 = | term_start2 = 6 April 2008 | term_end2 = 20 March 2013 | alongside2 = | deputy2 = | lieutenant2 = | monarch2 = | president2 = Asif Ali Zardari | prime_minister2 = Yusuf Raza Gillani<br />Raja Parvez Ashraf<br />Mir Hazar Khan Khoso | taoiseach2 = | chancellor2 = | governor2 = Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan | governor-general2 = | governor_general2 = | succeeded2 = Zahid Qurban Alvi | preceded2 = Abdul Qadir Halepota | majority2 = | order3 = | office3 = | term_start3 = 2 December 1988 | term_end3 = 25 February 1990 | alongside3 = | deputy3 = | lieutenant3 = | monarch3 = | president3 = Ghulam Ishaq Khan | prime_minister3 = Benazir Bhutto | governor3 = Qadeeruddin Ahmed<br />Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim | succeeded3 = Aftab Shaban Mirani | preceded3 = Akhtar Ali Ghulam Qazi | successor3 = | constituency3 = | majority3 = | office4 = Member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh | term_start4 = 25 February 2024 | constituency4 = PS-26 Khairpur-I | term_start5 = 13 August 2018 | term_end5 = 11 August 2023 | constituency5 = PS-26 Khairpur-I | term_start6 = 2013 | term_end6 = 2018 | constituency6 = PS-29 (Khairpur-I) | term_start7 = 2008 | term_end7 = 2013 | constituency7 = PS-29 (Khairpur-I) | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1928|9|13}}<ref name="pas.gov.pk"/><ref name="tribune.com.pk">{{cite web|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/553946/age-is-just-a-number-i-am-still-young-insists-85-year-old-qaim-ali-shah/|title=Age is just a number: I am still young, insists 85-year-old Qaim Ali Shah – The Express Tribune|date=24 May 2013|work=tribune.com.pk|accessdate=13 May 2020}}</ref> | birth_place = Khairpur, British India | party = PPP (1967-present) | constituency = | children = Nafisa Shah (daughter) }}

'''Syed Qaim Ali Shah''' ({{langx|sd|سيد قائم علي شاه}} ,{{langx|ur|{{Nastaliq|سید قائم علی شاہ}}}}) is a Pakistani politician who served as the elected Chief Minister of Sindh for three terms. His last two terms combined, a total of eight years, makes him the longest serving Chief Minister of Sindh.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1273410/change-of-guard-in-sindh|title=Change of guard in Sindh|first=Zahid|last=Hussain|date=27 July 2016|work=dawn.com|access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref> He is Sindh President of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and currently serving as an elected Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) from PS-26 (Khairpur-1) since February 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Syed Murad Ali Shah takes oath as new Sindh CM – Pakistan – Dunya News |url=http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/346967-Murad-Ali-Shah-takes-oath-as-new-Sindh-CM |access-date=2016-07-30}}</ref><ref name="cmsindh.gov.pk">CM Sindh Official Website http://www.cmsindh.gov.pk/2%20page%20cm%20profile.htm</ref>

==Education== Syed Qaim Ali Shah was born on 13 September 1928 to Syed Ramzan Ali Shah Jillani in Khairpur Mirs.<ref name="pas.gov.pk">{{cite web|title=Qaim Ali Shah, Provincial Assembly Profile|url=http://www.pas.gov.pk/index.php/members/profile/en/19/325|website=Provincial Assembly of Sindh (pas.gov.pk)}}</ref> Shah's household was counted amongst Khayrpur state's more influential and educated families. After completing his early education at Naz High School, Shah's family married young Shah to a relative. Shah then proceeded to Karachi for higher education.

In Karachi, Shah enrolled at Karachi University and received a Bachelor of Arts. Later, he received a Bachelor of Laws from S. M. Law College.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/581463-heres-how-qaim-ali-shah-manages-to-stay-fit|title=Here's how Qaim Ali Shah manages to stay fit|date=10 December 2019|website=The News International}}</ref>

During the course of his studies at Sindh Muslim Law College, Shah benefited from the company and guidance of his then professor, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, building a bond that would last for the duration of his professor's life.<ref>SM Law College Honour Roll {{cite web |url=http://www.smlawcollege.edu.pk/rollofhonour.php |title=S.M. Law College |access-date=2012-03-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805201309/http://www.smlawcollege.edu.pk/rollofhonour.php |archive-date=5 August 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Political career== Shah entered politics on being elected the Chairman of Khairpur's district council under Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s system of Basic Democracy in the 1960s.<ref name="cmsindh.gov.pk"/> His close association with Bhutto led to his joining Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s PPP shortly after PPP’s creation in 1967.

He contested general elections of 1970 with a PPP-ticket from Khairpur Mirs and defeated his opponents, Comrade Syed Baqir Ali Shah (provincial president of National Awami Party (Wali) and Council Member of Communist Party of Pakistan) and Syed Ghous Ali Shah. Recognizing young Shah's capability, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed Qaim Ali Shah to his small cabinet as the Federal Minister for Industries and Kashmir Affairs.

After General Zia-ul-Haq's coup d'état in July 1977, Shah was arrested along with Bhutto and other cabinet ministers. Unlike other PPP bigwigs such as Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Makhdoom Khaliq-uz-Zaman, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, who either left the party or became inactive, Qaim Ali Shah remained loyal to the party.<ref name="archives.dawn.com">Dawn Profile https://www.dawn.com/news/297118/karachi-syed-qaim-ali-shah-a-profile</ref> During the eleven years of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq’s rule, Shah, and members of his family suffered imprisonment, torture, virtual poverty (as accounts and lands were seized), and constant fear. Most notably, Shah’s politically active nephew, Syed Pervez Ali Shah attained ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ status in Amnesty International's 1985 report for enduring six years of torture in General Zia's torture cells. Benazir Bhutto's autobiography, ''Daughter of the East'', records Parvez's ordeal in greater detail.<ref name="Daughter of the East">{{cite book|last=Bhutto|first=Benazir|title=Daughter of the East|year=1989|publisher=Hamish Hamilton|isbn=978-0-241-12398-0}}</ref>

With General Zia's death and Benazir Bhutto’s return to the country, Shah was appointed the president of PPP-Sindh in recognition of his services to the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) and PPP. His landslide victory in the 1988 elections from his constituency, Khairpur Mirs, paved way for his appointment as the 17th Chief Minister of Sindh on 2 December 1988.

Subsequently, Shah was elected as a Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA), Sindh in 1990, 1993, 2002 and 2008. He lost the only election of his career in 1997 when the PPP was nearly routed from parliament. Later, he made a bid for a senate seat, and won his first and only senate term in late 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.senate.gov.pk/en/profile.php?uid=347|title=Senate of Pakistan|website=www.senate.gov.pk}}</ref>

He won seven out of eight general elections he contested, becoming a MPA six times, and Member of National Assembly (MNA) and senator once. Shah completed his 2nd term as Chief Minister of Sindh on 21 March 2013.<ref>CM Sindh Profile http://www.cmsindh.gov.pk/2%20page%20cm%20profile.htm</ref>

He was once again, for the third time, elected to the office of Chief Minister of Sindh after the 2013 general elections. In July 2016, the PPP leadership decided to replace Shah with Syed Murad Ali Shah as CM Sindh. He remained the member of Sindh assembly until the end of his term.<ref>{{cite news|title=Forever Qaim|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1150160/forever-qaim/|accessdate=27 July 2016|agency=The Express Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Syed Murad Ali Shah will be new Sindh CM |agency=The Express Tribune |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1150273/murad-ali-shah-will-new-sindh-cm/ |accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life== Shah has had three wives. His first marriage was arranged by his family during his teenage years to a cousin. After Shah completed his education in Karachi, his family, in accordance with the customs of the day, arranged his second marriage to Husn Afroze Brohi, sister of A. K. Brohi. Neither of his wives outlived him. Husn Afroze suffered from breast cancer and died in the late 1970s and Shah's first wife died from terminal illness a few years later. After several years as a widower, Shah contracted his marriage to his current wife according to the wishes of his family and friends.

Syed Qaim Ali Shah has four sons and seven daughters.<ref name="archives.dawn.com"/> Politician Nafisa Shah is his daughter from his marriage to Husn Afroze.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.dawn.com/news/297118/karachi-syed-qaim-ali-shah-a-profile DAWN: Profile of Qaim Ali Shah] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080430182140/http://www.pap.gov.pk/pro-ass/sindh.htm List of Leaders of the House (Sindh Assembly)] * [http://www.cmsindh.gov.pk/index.htm] * [https://archive.today/20120805201309/http://www.smlawcollege.edu.pk/rollofhonour.php S.M. Law College] * [http://pakistanherald.com/Profile/Syed-Qaim-Ali-Shah-130 Syed Qaim Ali Shah] * [https://www.dawn.com/news/618150/nafisa-shah-gets-phd-from-oxford] * [http://www.ifac.org/About/bio.php?bio=sshah Our Purpose] * [http://www.lead.org/member/403 Fellows Area – Page 403 – Lead International] * [http://www.ifac.org/ IFAC]

{{S-start}} {{S-off}} Chief Minister of Sindh

{{Succession box |title=1st term |years=2 December 1988 – 25 February 1990 |before=Akhtar Ali Kazi |after=Aftab Shaban Mirani}}

{{Succession box |title=2nd term |years=6 April 2008 – 20 March 2013 |before=Abdul Qadir Halepoto |after=Zahid Qurban Alvi}}

{{Succession box |title=3rd term |years=30 May 2013 |before=Zahid Qurban Alvi |after=Syed Murad Ali Shah}} {{End}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Syed Qaim Ali}} Category:Living people Category:1933 births Category:Pakistani lawyers Category:Pakistani prisoners and detainees Category:Chief ministers of Sindh Category:Pakistan People's Party MPAs (Sindh) Category:Sindh Muslim Law College alumni Category:University of Karachi alumni Category:People from Khairpur District Category:Sindh MPAs 1988–1990 Category:Sindh MPAs 1990–1993 Category:Sindh MPAs 1993–1996 Category:Sindh MPAs 2002–2007 Qaim Ali Shah Qaim Ali Shah Qaim Ali Shah Category:Leaders of the opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh Category:Members of the Senate of Pakistan Category:Pakistani MNAs 1972–1977 Category:Federal ministers of Pakistan Category:Sindhi politicians Category:Sindhi lawyers Category:Sindhi people