Jalaluddin Abdur Rahim
Pakistan Ambassador to France
In office 1974–1976
President	Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
Prime Minister	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Minister of Defence Production
In office 1972–1974
President	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
Prime Minister	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Vice President	Nurul Amin
Preceded by	Ministry established
Minister of Law, Justice, Town planning and agrovilles.
In office 1971–1972
President	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
Vice President	Nurul Amin
4th Foreign Secretary of Pakistan
In office 4 June 1953 – 11 January 1955
Governor‑General	Malik Ghulam
Prime Minister	Mohammad Ali Bogra
Preceded by	Sikandar Ali Baig
Succeeded by	Akhtar Hussain
Personal details
Born	Jalaludin Abdur Rahim (1906-07-27)27 July 1906 Chittagong, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bangladesh)
Died	1977 Karachi, Sindh Province, Pakistan
Citizenship	Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Political party	Pakistan Peoples Party
Other political affiliations	Pakistan Communist Party
Spouse	Esther Rahim
Relations	Justice Abdur Rahim (father) Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy(brother-in-law)
Alma mater	Dhaka University Calcutta University
Occupation	Communist social worker
Profession	civil servant
Cabinet	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Government

Jalaluddin Abdur Rahim (Urdu: جلال الدين عبدالرحيم; Bengali: জালালুদ্দিন আবদুর রহিম; also known as J. A. Rahim) (27 July 1906^[1] – 1977) was a Bengali communist and political philosopher who was renowned as one of the founding members of the Pakistan People's Party—a democratic socialist political party.^[2] Rahim was also the first Secretary-General of the Pakistan People's Party, served as the first minister of production. A Bengali civil servant, Rahim was a philosopher who politically guided Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, serving as his mentor, and had helped Bhutto navigate through the minefield of bureaucratic establishment when Ayub Khan had taken Bhutto into his cabinet.^[3] Rahim also guided Bhutto after Bhutto was deposed as Foreign Minister, critically guiding Bhutto to take down the once US-sponsored dictatorship of Ayub Khan.^[3]

Family and education

Educated at the University of Dhaka where Rahim received double BSc in Political Science and Philosophy after writing and publishing the brief thesis on Nietzsche Philosophy.^[4] Later, Rahim attended Calcutta University, receiving an LL.B. degree in Law and Justice. Rahim began his political activism in Pakistan Movement,^[4] serving as its activist in East Bengal.^[4] His father, Justice Abdur Rahim also had served as a senior associate judge at the Supreme Court of Pakistan.^[4]

Career

After his education, Rahim joined the Pakistan Civil Services, picking up the first bureaucratic assignment in Foreign Service of Pakistan.^[4] Rahim served as the Foreign Secretary under the government of Prime minister Muhammad Ali Bogra.^[4]

For some time, he remained associated with Communist party, but also built personal relations with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1965.^[4] After attending the socialist convention at the residence of Dr. Mubashir Hassan, J. A. Rahim played a key role in writing the party's socialist manifesto: "Islam is our religion; democracy is our politics; socialism is our economy; power lies with the people", on 30 November 1967. This manifesto was officially first issued on 9 December 1967. J.A. Rahim was made Pakistan Peoples Party's first secretary general after writing the party's constitution.^[3][5]

Rahim earned public notability after his name was announced as a Bengali member of delegation of Pakistan Peoples Party to launch a negotiation with Awami League party under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.^[6] In 1970, Rahim along with Ghulam Mustafa Khar, returned to West Pakistan, telling Bhutto that the "meeting with Mujib was of no use".^[6] After the 1971 war, Rahim stayed in what remained of Pakistan, governing the Law ministry, Justice minister, and the Township planning and agrovilles. In 1972, Rahim was appointed the first Minister of Defence Production which he governed until 1974.^{[citation needed]}

Disillusionment with Bhutto

His relations with Bhutto deteriorated after Pakistan People's Party began purging the radical and ultra-left wings of the party and J. A. Rahim was also sidelined by Bhutto later.^[7]

In July 1974, Rahim himself got disillusioned with Bhutto after seeing Bhutto's handling of internal affairs and publicly disagreed with Bhutto as he wanted Bhutto to deal with the matters efficiently, not by force.^[7]

He was appointed Pakistan Ambassador to France by Bhutto just to get him out of the way and away from Pakistani politics. But he returned to Pakistan unscheduled.^[3] Rahim was then tortured by the members of the secret police, the Federal Security Force (FSF), and was thrown into jail in 1976.^[2][8] Shortly afterwards, he was released. Later after Bhutto had formally issued an apology to him, he again left for France to complete his tenure as ambassador.^[2] Some people say that Bhutto, during his final days, regretted his fall-out with his former mentor, J. A. Rahim.^[2]

Death

In 1977, Rahim suffered a heart attack and died. He is now buried in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.^[2]