The youngest among these unfortunate lawmakers, the 30-year old Ziad Durrani had also served as Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for a short period in 2007 when an MNA from his native constituency in Bannu died and he won the seat with a huge margin in the by-election.

Born in 1982, Ziad Durrani was the eldest son of Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani, former chief minister and now opposition leader in the provincial assembly. He had done his graduation in law from the Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar, and was elected to the provincial assembly from PF-70, Bannu-1, on the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) ticket in the 2008 general election.

According to his family, Ziad Durrani died of heart attack on June 21 at the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. He has left behind a widow and a six-month old daughter to mourn his death.

Maulvi Obaidullah of the Awami National Party from Kohistan, Zahir Shah Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q from Shangla, Dr Khalid Raza Zakori, independent MPA from Lakki Marwat, Maj (r) Latifullah Alizai of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from Dera Ismail Khan and Gulistan Khan of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) from Tank district had been elected to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the 2008 general elections and later met natural deaths.

Except one, close blood relatives of the MPAs retained their vacant seats in the by-elections. Nasir Mohammad Khan of the JUI-F was elected to the provincial assembly constituency PF-75 in the by-election as the late Dr Khalid Raza Zakori didn’t have any close relative who was an adult and could contest the polls.

Four MPAs met unnatural deaths, two of them becoming victims of terrorism. The Awami National Party (ANP) MPAs Alamzeb Khan from PF-1 Peshawar and Shamsher Ali Khan from PF-83 Swat were killed in terror attacks and their seats were retained by their brothers in the by-elections.

Iftikhar Khan Shagai from PF-30 Mardan died in a road accident while on his way to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Sindh to participate in a ceremony to mark the first death anniversary of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. His brother Imtiaz Khan Shagai retained his seat in the by-election.

ANP’s Akhtar Nawaz Khan, who had been elected as independent MPA in the 2008 general election, was shot dead by his enemies in his hometown Khalabat in Haripur district. His younger brother Gohar Nawaz Khan retained the seat as an independent candidate and later joined the ruling ANP.