The private funeral of Prince Karim al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili community, was held in Lisbon, Portugal, which was also attended by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on behalf of the Pakistani government.
Prince Karim passed away at the age of 88 four days ago.
Pakistan is observing a national day of mourning today on the occasion of Prince Karim’s private funeral, held at the Ismaili community centre in the Portuguese capital. He will be laid to rest in Egypt’s Aswan tomorrow.
The national flag is flying at half-mast throughout the country, as per the federal government’s announcement two days ago.
Aurangzeb attended Prince Karim’s funeral prayers in Lisbon and also expressed condolences on behalf of the president, prime minister and the nation to Prince Rahim during a meeting, an official statement read.
The federal minister paid tribute to the AKDN’s contributions to human capacity building and economic development of Pakistan and termed the passing of Prince Karim “a great loss”.
Following Prince Karim’s demise, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) announced Prince Rahim al-Hussaini Aga Khan has been named the 50th hereditary Imam.
The late spiritual leader of the Ismaili community left behind three sons, Rahim Aga Khan, Aly Muhammad Aga Khan, and Hussain Aga Khan, and a daughter, Zahra Aga Khan.
Karim was born in Switzerland and spent his childhood in Nairobi and graduated from Harvard University with a BA Honors Degree in Islamic History.
He assumed imamat at the age of 20 years in 1957 after succeeding his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III.
He was widely known for his welfare services in different regions of Asia and Africa via his network of private development agencies, AKDN.
In recognition of his service, Prince Karim received 44 international awards, including honorary Canadian citizenship and the UN Champion for Global Change Award, and was the recipient of 24 honorary degrees from leading institutions such as Cambridge, Harvard and McGill, according to the AKDN website.
He had also given exemplary services for the development of Pakistan and in recognition of his outstanding services, he received the country’s highest civilian decorations — Nishan-i-Imtiaz in 1970 and Nishan-i-Pakistan in 1983.
