Nasrullah's 5th death anniversary observed

But, while his literary leanings, the much-publicised portable ‘hookah’ and the Turkish fez lent a certain distinction to his personality. It is, in fact, his long and sustained struggle for democracy that earned him a pivotal position in the Pakistani politics.

This was during General Ayub Khan’s rule, when Mr Khan played a prominent role in the opposition grouping, Pakistan Democratic Movement followed by his election as the central leader of the Democratic Action Committee.

This was a prelude to a kind of permanent role in forging political alliances of opposition parties.

In 1977, he headed the opposition team during the abortive negotiations with then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in the wake of a crisis triggered by allegations of electoral rigging.

Following Bhutto’s hanging, the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in the 1980s, against General Zia-ul-Haq’s military government, was as much a tribute to Mr Khan’s commitment to the cause of democracy.

It was the first alliance in which he joined hands with his erstwhile rivals, the Pakistan Peoples Party.