Mazari Tribe - Sardar Sherbaz Khan

Sardar Sherbaz Khan

Sardar Sherbaz Khan is the youngest son of Mir Murad Baksh Khan. He was born in Rojhan in 1930 and was educated in the Royal Indian Military College in Dehra doon and in Aitchison College.

Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari entered politics by supporting Miss Fatima Jinnah, sister of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, against Ayub Khan in the Presidential elections of 1964. In 1970 he was elected to the National Assembly as an independent candidate . He was a signatory to the 1973 Constitution, as head of the independent group in the Assembly.

After the Bhutto led army action in Balochistan and the subsequent banning of the National Awami Party, he formed the National Democratic Party. This was part of an effort to oppose Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's autocratic rule as well as to bring about peace in Balochistan. He served as the leader of the NDP from 1975 to 1985 and the leader of the Opposition in Parliament from 1975-1977. A former friend of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he became one of his main political opponents in the Pakistan National Alliance. The 1977 elections led to a civil agitation movement which ultimately ousted Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government and brought in Martial Law under General Zia. DuringGeneral Zia's regime he again played a key role in opposing the military regime .He helped establish Movement for the Restoration of Democracy( MRD), an alliance of opposition parties which included the Pakistan Peoples Party. He spearheaded a movement against the military government as the Chairman of MRD's "Pakistan Bachao "(Save Pakistan )Committee. The resulting agitation caused widespread commercial disruption in Sindh and parts of Punjab and but was brutally suppressed by the army at a cost of many lives . It was only after Zia's death did democracy finally return to Pakistan. A strong believer of democracy Sardar Mazari was incarcerated on numerous occasions during both Zulfikar ali Bhutto and General Zia's rule. He was one of the few West Pakistani politicians to have opposed the army action in what was then East Pakistan against the Bengali's and the only opponent of Zulfikar Bhutto to have condemned his judicial murder.He was offered key political positions by Zulfikar Bhutto, Zia Ul Haq and later Benazir Bhutto but declined each one of them He has been an outspoken critic of the treatment meted out to Balochi separatists by the Central Government He was defeated in the 1988 general elections due to differences within the Mazari tribe apparently engineered by "the Establishment" and retired from politics greatly disillusioned. In 1999, he wrote his memoir - Pakistan: A Journey to Disillusionment.