Imdad Hussain Chandio (Urdu: ﺍﻣﺪﺍﺩ چانڈیو ) Son of Late Raees Juryal Khan Chandio is a politician and agriculturist from Sindh, Pakistan. Imdad Hussain Chandio popularly known as Imdad Khan Chandio is the leader of Cholyani-Chandio tribe in Sindh. He has been a prominent leader of PML-N and held a diverse range of political and non-political appointments. In the year 1999, he was appointed as the Finance Minister of Sindh province; prior to that he was the Director of TVO (Trust for Voluntary Organisations), member Bait ul Maal-Pakistan; Chairman Khidmat Committee Larkana Division; Board member of Agriculture University Tando Jam and was the President of PML-N Sindh from 2001-2004 during the Musharraf era when the entire PML-N leadership was forced to be in exile; he led the party with utmost courage and resolve. Currently, he is the central Vice-President of Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Early life
Chandio was born in the village of Shamo Khan Chandio District Larkana, Sindh. He completed his primary education from Taluka Warah and then went to pursue his secondary education from Taluka Mehar.
Due to early death of his father, he was not able to pursue his education further and was compelled by the circumstances to go back to his hometown and lead his tribe along with taking care of his agricultural lands, fish farms and other businesses.
Political activism
He joined Tehrik e Istiqlaal and was appointed as member of Central working committee to abolish feudal mindset and prevailing wadera culture at that time. He went against the local feudals and protested against the dictatorial regime of Zia ul Haq.
He was a leading member in the movement to restore democracy (MRD). For which, he was imprisoned in jail for one year without being given any right of trial. All the cases against him were dismissed and he was freed following which he became a prominent local political leader in Larkana. He contested for the election of chairman baldia warah where he got elected unopposed. He was called upon by the chief of PML-N, Mian Nawaz Sharif to join his party.
He formally joined the PML-N and was made the divisional president of Larkana and member central working committee of PML- N.
Contribution
His main contribution is to unite a very large number of Sindhi workers under the banner of his party and making PML(N) a popular mass party is Sindh. He is also called as Chief of Cholyani tribe. He also contributed a lot to resolve the tribal feuds among different tribes, and set the tradition of taking delegations to rival groups to convince and encourage them to resolve their bloody feuds through traditional dispute resolution mechanisms through the involvement of notables. Such community based dispute resolution is one of the main alternate to rival groups in the absence of rule of law and very corrupt judiciary and administration.