Taj Haider

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Taj Haider

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| honorific-suffix = SI

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| order = Senate of Pakistan from Sindh

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| term_start = 5 July 1995

| term_end = 8 August 2000

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| predecessor = Kamaluddin Azfar

| successor = Farhatullah Babar

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1942|3|8}}

| birth_place = Kotah, Kotah State, Rajputana Agency, India
(now Rajasthan, India)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2025|4|8|1942|3|8}}

| death_place = Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

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| birthname = Taj Haider

| citizenship = Pakistani citizenship

| nationality = Pakistani

| party = PPP (1967–2025)

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| residence = Karachi

| alma_mater = Karachi University

| occupation = Politician, writer, playwright, mathematician

| profession = Professor of mathematics

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| committees = Member of Senate standing committee on Industries, Production, Energy, Education, Scientific and Technological Research

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| blank1 = Fields

| data1 = Mathematics

| blank2 = Institutions

| data2 = University of Karachi
DJ Science College
Pakistan Academy of Letters
Pakistan Mathematical Society
Pakistan Television Corporation

| blank3 = Known for

| data3 = Work in political Literature of Pakistan, mathematics, and Pakistan and its Nuclear Deterrent Program

| blank4 = Notable awards

| data4 = PTV Awards (2006)
Sitara-i-Imtiaz (2013)

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| awards = Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan in 2013

}}

Taj Haider, SI ({{langx|ur|{{nq|تاج حيدر}}}}; 8 March 1942 – 8 April 2025){{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Nadir Guramani {{!}} Imtiaz |date=2025-04-08 |title=Senior PPP leader Senator Taj Haider passes away after battling cancer |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1902949/senior-ppp-leader-senator-taj-haider-passes-away-after-battling-cancer |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}} was a left-wing politician, nationalist,{{cite news|title=Taj Haider cautions Altaf over use of term 'Mohajir'|url=http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=219994|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=Pakistan Observer (newspaper)|date=4 October 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004222811/http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=219994|archive-date=4 October 2013|df=dmy-all}} playwright, mathematician, versatile scholar, and Marxist intellectual. He was one of the founding members of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and was the general-secretary of the PPP from 2023 to 2025 after the office was vacated by Nayyar Hussain Bukhari.

A mathematician and scientist by profession, Haider provided vital leadership in the formative years of clandestine atomic bomb projects in the 1970s. He was also noted for his writing of political plays for the Pakistan Television (PTV) from 1979 to 1985.

Biography

= Education =

Haider was born on 8 March 1942 in Kotah, Rajasthan, British India. His family migrated to the Dominion of Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947.{{cite news|title=Profile of Senator Taj Haider|url=http://www.pakistanherald.com/Profile/Senator-Taj-Haider-794|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=Pakistan Herald|archive-date=4 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004222539/http://www.pakistanherald.com/Profile/Senator-Taj-Haider-794|url-status=dead}} After graduating from a local high school, Haider ultimately enrolled in Karachi University in 1959.{{cite news|title=Taj Haider profile|url=http://www.dailypakistan.com/Profile/557/Taj-Haider.aspx|newspaper=Daily Pakistan (newspaper)|access-date=21 October 2021|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012045821/http://www.dailypakistan.com/Profile/557/Taj-Haider.aspx|date=1 September 2012|archive-date=12 October 2013|df=dmy-all}} He studied mathematics at the Karachi University and graduated with a BSc (hons) in Mathematics in 1962.

In 1965, he earned his MSc in mathematics from the same institution and opted to teach mathematics at the local college, later moving to Karachi University. During his career at the Karachi University, Haider primarily taught and focused on the ordinary differential equations and topics in multivariable calculus.

= PPP and political activism =

During the attendance of 1967 socialist convention, Haider was one of the founding members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and committed himself as a vehement supporter of change by left-oriented philosophy of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. In the 1970s, he played a vital role in formulating the public policy concerning the atomic bomb projects.{{cite book|last=Khan|first=Feroz Hassan|title=Eating Grass : The Making of the Pakistan Atom Bomb.|year=2012|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, CA|isbn=978-0804776011|chapter=§15:The Dawn of a Nuclear Power}}

On multiple occasions, he provided his expertise on taking moral stance on nuclear weapons initiatives at the diplomatic conventions.{{cite book|last=Khan|first=Feroz Hassan|title=Eating Grass : The Making of the Pakistan Atom Bomb.|year=2012|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, CA|isbn=978-0804776011|chapter=§4:Never Again}} On nuclear weapons development, Haider stated that "there was a need to aggressively project the peaceful intent of Pakistan's atomic bomb program."{{cite news|title=KARACHI: Leaders condemn US sanctions on Kahuta|url=https://beta.dawn.com/news/91238/karachi-leaders-condemn-us-sanctions-on-kahuta|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=Dawn (newspaper) |date=3 April 2003}}

Haider disassociated himself from the politics but remained member of Pakistan Mathematical Society and shifted towards writing political dramas at the Pakistan Television (PTV) in 1979. The PTV aired various political dramas written by Haider until 1985 when he renewed his association with PPP. In 1990–2000, he contributed to PPP-initiated industrial projects such as the establishment of Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC), Hub Dam and various other social programmes. He was elected to the Senate of Pakistan in 1995.

In 2001, Haider returned to his literary activities after rejoining the PTV, and penned two political drama serials for the PTV which were aired in 2003. In 2004, he returned to politics in opposition to President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf over the issue of nuclear proliferation. He bitterly criticised the United States over the sanctions of KRL and was one of the noted politicians expressing the discontent with the US, along with Raza Rabbani in 2004. About the nuclear proliferation case, Haider defended the case of Abdul Qadeer Khan in the public and condemned the Information minister, Rashid Ahmad's statement of acquitting former Prime minister Benazir Bhutto in the nuclear proliferation case.

Ultimately, he called for a parliamentary inquiry on that issue, and questioned the involvement of President General Pervez Musharraf in the proliferation case.{{cite news|title=PPP blasts minister's statement|url=https://beta.dawn.com/news/352055/ppp-blasts-minister-s-statement|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=Dawn (newspaper)|date=25 February 2004}} In 2006, Haider was awarded PTV Awards for Best Playwright Serial award, which he received in a televised ceremony.{{cite news|title=Lifetime achievement award for Mehdi Hasan (Best playwright is Taj Haider)|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/201765/karachi-lifetime-achievement-award-for-mehdi-hasan|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=Dawn (newspaper)|date=17 July 2006}}

=Writing and philosophy=

Haider extensively wrote on nuclear policy issues, left-wing ideas, literary and political philosophy. His more recent writings had included the support of social democracy in the country and power of balance in each state institution.{{cite news|last=Haider|first=Taj|title=Setting the PPP record straight|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/495800/setting-the-ppp-record-straight/|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=The Express Tribune (newspaper)|date=19 January 2013}} In literary and political circles, he wrote critic articles against the military dictatorship, specifically policies enforced by the conservative President General Zia-ul-Haq throughout the 1980s.{{cite news|last=Haider|first=Taj|title=Black out revisited|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/424252/blacked-out-revisited-i-was-three/|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=The Express Tribune (newspaper)|date=26 August 2012}}

Haider opposed the ethnically based politics of the leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement or MQM, Altaf Hussain based in Karachi by reportedly stating on one occasion, "We were not Mohajirs but Urdu-speaking citizens of this province and this country. Our mother-tongue was the official and national language of Pakistan and it would be wrong and degrading to consider ourselves as lesser citizens or Mohajirs.

Death

Haider was admitted to Karachi’s Ziauddin Hospital’s intensive care unit battling cancer. He died on 8 April 2025, at the age of 83.[https://www.dawn.com/news/1902949/senior-ppp-leader-senator-taj-haider-passes-away-after-battling-cancer Senior PPP leader Senator Taj Haider passes away after battling cancer]{{Cite web |title=PPP Senator Taj Haider passes away after brief illness in Karachi |url=https://www.geo.tv/latest/599097-ppp-senator-taj-haider-passes-away-after-brief-illness-in-karachi |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=www.geo.tv |language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2025-04-08 |title=PPP Senator Taj Haider passes away in Karachi |url=https://www.brecorder.com/news/40356554/ppp-senator-taj-haider-passes-away-in-karachi |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Brecorder |language=en}}

Honors and awards

Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan (2013).{{cite news|title=Abida Parveen, Aleem Dar among winners Posthumous awards for Manto, Mehdi Hassan|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/742068/abida-parveen-aleem-dar-among-winners-posthumous-awards-for-manto-mehdi-hassan|access-date=21 October 2021|newspaper=Dawn (newspaper)|date=14 August 2012}}
13th PTV Awards for Best Playwright Serial award (2006)

;Selected articles:

Haider, Taj. "CTBT Security Perspectives" Dawn Newspapers, 27 March 2000.
Haider, Taj. "Setting the PPP record straight", Express Tribune 2013.
Haider, Taj. "Why the PPP is boycotting the presidential election", 16 July 2013

;Television plays