PPP leader Liaqat Shabab passes away

NOWSHERA: Pakistan People’s Party leader and former minister Liaqat Shabab, who was admitted to a hospital in Peshawar after he suffered a heart attack, breathed his last on Tuesday.

Family sources said that Liaqat Shabab had suffered brain hemorrhage and heart attack on Sunday last and was taken to Qazi Hussain Ahmad Complex, Nowshera. However, he was later referred to a private health facility in Peshawar because of his precarious condition.

Liaqat Shabab was son of Shamsul Qamar, who was a labourer in Sarhad Textile Mills in Nowshera. He was a graduate of Law and had started his political career as a member of the People’s Students Federation.

Liaqat Shabab was a stalwart of the PPP and was close friend of former president Asif Ali Zardari, former interior minister Naseerullah Babar, PPP leader Mian Muzzaffar Shah and ex-defence minister Pervez Khattak.

He started practical politics as a staunch supporter of PPP led by Mian Muzzaffar Shah at the district level at that time. He fully supported Mian Muzzaffar Shah, who won the 1988 general elections from NA-4 with a thumping majority. Mian Muzzaffar Shah later became minister of state in the PPP government led by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Liaqat Shabab was made district president of PPP and contested elections on the party ticket on PK-14 and PK-85 but he lost it to the rival candidates.

However, he won the 2008 general elections on the PPP ticket and was made minister for Excise and Taxation. He had also faced difficult times when imprisoned for association with the PPP.

Liaqat Shabab was not only a politician but also a known fiction writer, poet and a literary figure.He left behind a widow, two daughters and a son to mourn his death.