HYDERABAD, 11 November 2002 — A prominent Muslim leader and president of Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT), Muhammad Amanullah Khan, died yesterday following a heart attack.
Family sources said Khan, 65, complained of chest pain around 4.30 a.m. as he was waking up for “suhur”, the pre-dawn meals taken during Ramadan fast. He died before he could be taken to a hospital. Khan is survived by his wife, five sons and two daughters.
A five-time legislator of Andhra Pradesh Assembly from 1978 to 1999, he created a sensation when he revolted against Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi in 1993 and formed the rival MBT.
He was elected from Chandrayangutta assembly constituency as the MIM candidate in 1978, 1983, 1985 and 1989.
Khan retained the seat in 1994 elections as a MBT candidate. But he lost in the 1999 elections. He twice contested unsuccessfully for the Lok Sabha from Hyderabad — in 1980 as the MIM candidate and in 1996 as the MBT nominee.
Making a humble beginning as an MIM activist in the early 1970s, Khan became a powerful leader of the party. He actively raised Muslim issues in the assembly.
Khan scored a major victory when his MBT party won two seats in the 1994 assembly elections, reducing MIM’s tally in the house from four seats to one. In 1999 MBT drew a blank.
As the news of Khan’s death spread, hundreds of people swarmed his residence here to pay their last respects. Many shops were shut as a mark of respect to the dead leader.
