Mufti Mahmud

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Maulana Mufti Mahmud (Urdu: مولانا مفتى محمود) was born in January 1919 in Paniala, District Dera Ismail Khan, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. He was an Islamic scholar and political activist. Fazl ur-Rahman is his son and is the leader of opposition in Pakistan.

He fought in the Indian Independence Movement during the 1940s. He was a close ally of the Indian National Congress at the time and opposed the demand for Pakistan. Even after the Partition of India, when he moved to Pakistan, he remained a bitter enemy of the Muslim League.

After the 1970 General Elections, he led his party the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI - F) into a coalition with the National Awami Party. On March 1, 1972, he was elected as the Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province. He along with his cabinet resigned in protest at the dismissal of the NAP - JUI (F) coalition government in Balochistan on 14 February 1973.

He supported Afghan Jihad against the invasion of Afghanistan by USSR (see also Soviet-Afghan War).

He died on 14 October 1980. He was buried in Dera Ismail Khan, his home town.