Preceded by Ministry established Role Political figure | Name Jalaludin Rahim | |
President Zulfikar Ali BhuttoFazal Ilahi Chaudhry | ||
Jalaludin Abdur Rahim (Urdu: جلال الدين عبدرالرحيم; Bengali: জালালুদ্দিন আবদুর রহিম; also known as J.A. Rahim) (c1905–1977) was a Bengali communist and Nietzschean philosopher who was renowned as one of the founding members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)— a democratic socialist political party. Rahim was also the first Secretary-General of the Pakistan People's Party, served as the first minister of production. A Bengali civil servant, Rahim was a philosopher who politically guided Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, serving as his mentor, and had helped Bhutto navigate through the minefield of bureaucratic establishment when Ayub Khan had taken the latter into his cabinet. Rahim also guided Bhutto after Bhutto was deposed as Foreign Minister, critically guiding Bhutto to take down the once US-sponsored dictatorship of Ayub Khan.
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Family and education
Educated at the University of Dhaka where Rahim received double BSc in Political Science and Philosophy after writing and publishing the brief thesis on Nietzsche Philosophy. Later, Rahim attended the Calcutta University, gaining LLB in Law and Justice, Rahim began his political activism in Pakistan Movement, serving its activist in East Bengal. His father, Justice Abdur Rahim served as a senior associate judge at the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Career
After his education, Rahim joined the Pakistan Civil Services, picking up the first bureaucratic assignment in Foreign Service of Pakistan. Rahim was the Foreign Secretary served under the government of Prime minister Muhammad Ali Bogra.
For some time, he remained associated with Communist party, but built relations with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1965. After attending the socialist convention at the residence of dr. Mubashir Hassan, writing the party's socialist manifesto: "Islam is our religion; democracy is our politics; socialism is our economy; power lies with the people", on 30 November 1967, first issued on 9 December 1967. J.A. Rahim was made Pakistan Peoples Party's first secretary general after writing the party's constitution.
Rahim earned public notability after he was announced as Bengali member of delegation of Pakistan Peoples Party to launch a negotiation with national Awami League under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 1970, Rahim along with Ghulam Mustafa Khar, returned to West Pakistan, telling Bhutto that "meeting with Mujib was of no use". After the 1971 war, Rahim stayed in what remained of Pakistan, governing the Law ministry, Justice minister, and the Township planning and agrovilles. In 1972, Rahim was appointed as the first Minister of Defence Production which he governed until 1974. His relations with Bhutto deteriorated after Pakistan Peoples Party began purging the radical and ultra-left wings of the party and sidelined by Bhutto afterwards. In July 1974, Rahim founded in Cold situation after seeing Bhutto's handling of internal affairs and temerity publicly disagreed with Bhutto as he wanted Bhutto to deal with the matters efficiently, not by force.
His relations with Bhutto contentions, after he was appointed Pakistan Ambassador to France, but returned to Pakistan unscheduled. Rahim was tortured by the members of the secret police, the Federal Security Force (FSF), and was thrown to jail in 1976. Shortly he was released and was departed to France to complete his tenure, after Bhutto formally issued an apology to him. In 1977, Rahim suffered a cardiac arrest and is now buried in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.