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| Veteran politician Ajmal laid to rest |
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| NOWSHERA (APP): Veteran politician, eminent writer, renowned Pastho poet and former President of ANP, Ajaml Khattak was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard at Akora Khattak in Nowshera district on Monday afternoon.
The funeral prayer of the ANP leader was attended by thousands of his well-wishers from across the country and Afghanistan to pay homage to political and intellectual services of the legendary poet. Khattak breathed his lost due to long protected illness at his residence late last night. He was 85.
Born at Akora Khattak Nowshera district on September 15, 1925, Khattak throughout of his life had struggled for democratic norms.
During his long political career, he was elected as a member of NWFP Provincial Assembly and served as a Provincial Minister in the cabinet of Mufti Mehmood’s NAP-JUI government in 1972. He also remained in exile for several years while fighting against dictatorship.
He ended his exile in 1989 after the Awami National Party(ANP), the successor of the NAP, entered into an electoral alliance with Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-led Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI).
In the general elections of October 1990, Ajmal Khattak was elected from his home district of Nowshera to the National Assembly.
In the 1993 general elections, Ajmal Khattak lost his reelection bid in Nowshera to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Major General Naseerullah Babar.
As a leading critic of the PPP, it was important for the ANP-IJI alliance to have Ajmal Khattak in parliament, and he was therefore nominated to the Senate in March, 1994.
His two terms as President of the ANP were noted primarily for the close alliance with former opponents, the Muslim League, after the alliance collapsed in January 1998 over the renaming of the province of NWFP to Pakthunkhwa and Ajmal Khattak role in leading the ANP briefly into joining an alliance known as PONM.
The decision to join PONM was made despite strong pressure from party critics who preferred the ANP to ally themselves with Pakistan Peoples Party.
Eventually, Khattak succumbed to party pressure and the Awami National Party left PONM by joining the Grand Democratic Alliance which included the Pakistan Peoples Party. He was also the organizer and stage secretary at the United Democratic Front rally held at historic Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi on March 23, 1973, when shots were fired at the UDF leaders, including Khan Abdul Wali Khan.
He also authored 13 books in Pushto and Urdu including a History of Pushto Literature (in Urdu) ‘Pakistan Main Qaumi Jamhoori Tehrikin, Da Ghirat Chagha, Batoor, Gul auo Perhar, Guloona auo Takaloona, Jalawatan ki Shairee, Pukhtana Shora and Da Wakht Chagha. As a writer he served as editor of various Newspapers and periodicals, including Anjam, Shahbaz, Adal and Rahber as well as script writer for Radio Pakistan. |
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