IN MEMORIAM: REQUIEM FOR A SURVIVOR |
Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, a former chief minister of Punjab and one of Pakistan’s most durable political survivors, passed away on December 16, 2025, at the age of 86. His death marks the passing of a particular species of politician — less ideological than instinctive, less rhetorical than tactical — who thrived in the interstices of power rather than at its commanding heights.
Wattoo was never the face of a movement, nor the author of a grand political vision. Yet, for decades, he remained relevant in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and politically decisive province, precisely because he understood how power there actually worked. He belonged to a generation shaped by instability.
Born in Okara district, in the fertile plains of central Punjab, Wattoo came of age in a Pakistan where democracy was episodic and political loyalty was often provisional. Coups, dissolutions of assemblies and abrupt changes of regime were not aberrations but recurring features of national life.
In such a setting, political survival required adaptability, a strong local base and a keen sense of timing. Wattoo possessed all three. Unlike dynastic politicians whose surnames opened doors, he built his career from the constituency upwards.
Mian Manzoor Wattoo, the former Punjab chief minister who passed away December 16, had mastered the art of political endurance. His life offers a lens through which to understand how power actually works in Pakistani politics
A MASTER OF RETAIL POLITICS
Rural Punjab politics is intimate and transactional: voters expect access, mediation and tangible benefits rather than abstract promises. Wattoo excelled at this retail politics. His influence rested less on charisma than on networks — of biradari........