Chehlum of PPP leader Liaqat Shabab held

NOWSHERA: The chehlum of Pakistan People’s Party leader and former minister Liaqat Shabab was observed on Saturday.

Besides, PPP leaders, including Barrister Masood Kausar, former minister Ziaullah Afridi, Malik Tehmash Khan, Zulqarnain, Zulfiqar Afghani, Yawar Naseem and Shaukat Ali, a large number of PPP workers and activists from Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan and elsewhere from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attended the chehlum.

Quran Khwani was held and prayers were offered to rest the departed soul of Liaqat Shabab in eternal peace.

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 made 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.

He won the 2008 general elections on the PPP ticket and was made minister of Excise. 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.