Pervez Khattak keen to get his son-in-law re-elected as senator

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak is once again active to get his son-in-law Adnan Khan re-elected to the Senate on technocrats seat. He was earlier elected on Pakistan People’s Party ticket in 2009 when he was a provincial minister in the Awami National Party-led government.
Belonging to the Charsadda district, Senator Adnan will complete his six-year tenure next month despite the fact that his nomination papers were rejected by the then returning officer but he managed to get a stay order to remain a member of the Upper House of Parliament.
Now he has filed nomination papers on technocrats seat in his independent capacity but officials at the Election Commission Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa told this scribe that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak was present at the time of submitting papers by his son-in-law.
Independent MPA Jamshid Mohmand, who is also a close friend of Pervez Khattak, has proposed Adman’s name for the Senate polls while an MPA of Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan Babar Salim has seconded him.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership has set two main conditions for awarding the Senate ticket — the candidate must belong to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and he/she should not be close relative of the chief minister, ministers and PTI MPAs.
“Pervez Khattak is a shrewd politician. He knows well when and how to play his cards,” said a PTI lawmaker, who belongs to the disgruntled group of the party in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
When contacted on phone, Senator Adnan told this scribe that he had been in contact with a main political party to get its support in the Senate election“I am serious about contesting the Senate polls. There is no question of withdrawing my nomination papers,” he said and argued that he has the constitutional right to contest the polls and contact various political parties for support.
He disclosed the name of his proposer Jamshed Mohmand but was reluctant to share the name of the MPA who seconded his papers for the Senate elections.
However, an official of the Election Commission said that his candidature might be challenged and once again rejected, as the tribunal had not decided over his previous case. “His papers were rejected on the ground that he did not possess the required experience, age and qualification for the technocrats seat,” he said and added that Senator Adnan had got a stay order while his case was still pending in the court.
It is worth mentioning here that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak got elected another of his son-in-law, Dr Imran Khattak, as Member of National Assembly on the PTI ticket in the by-elections from Nowshera. In 2013 general elections, Pervez Khattak had won the National Assembly and Provincial Assembly seats and after taking oath as a member of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly he had abandoned his National Assembly seat. Similarly, three of his close relatives, including his sister-in-law, were elected to the National Assembly on PTI tickets from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the 2013 elections.