Disgruntled Ziaullah meets with Amir Muqam

Former minister claims they discussed Peshawar’s problems;
his brother Hidayatullah Afridi likely to join PML-N first on Feb 25

PESHAWAR: After being rebuffed by his previous party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), it seems former provincial minister and Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Ziaullah Afridi has started exploring the possibility of joining another political party, possibly the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

For this purpose, he met the Adviser to Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Amir Muqam at his residence here on Saturday. A number of Ziaullah Afridi’s supporters accompanied him while Amir Muqam too had invited some of his PML-N colleagues to the meeting. Sources said the two discussed the political situation in the province and the campaign started recently by Ziaullah Afridi for solving the problems of citizens in Peshawar.

Ziaullah Afridi, who was elected MPA from urban Peshawar, has brought together local leaders of different political parties to jointly campaign for highlighting and solving Peshawar city’s problems. He even has plans to collect donations for Peshawar’s uplift.

His meeting with Amir Muqam had another specific purpose as he wanted his help to solve the problems of gas and electricity supply for Peshawar. Amir Muqam, it may be added, is looking after the federal government projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and has been instrumental in extending gas and electricity supply to a number of places in the province.

When asked by The News if he has made up his mind to join the PML-N, Ziaullah Afridi tersely replied through a text message, “Not yet.”

Later, he sent another text message to The News. It read as follows: “Just met (Amir Muqam) today for (discussing) Tameer-i-Peshawar issues regarding gas and Wapda.”

The PML-N wasn’t saying much if Ziaullah Afridi has finally decided to join the party. However, Amir Muqam has been making efforts to persuade politicians from other parties to join the PML-N and there was optimism in the PML-N ranks that Ziaullah Afridi too would eventually do so. Amir Muqam had earlier convinced a number of politicians, including MPA Jamshed Mohmand from Mardan and former District Council Nowshera Nazim, Daud Khattak, to join the PML-N.

Certain PTI activists in Peshawar said Ziaullah Afridi would be joining the PML-N at a later stage. One of them said with certainty that Ziaullah Afridi’s brother Hidayatullah Afridi will join the PML-N on February 25 to make it clear that the family has opted for the new party.

However, the law concerning floor-crossing would remain a hurdle for Ziaullah Afridi in case he decided to formally join the PML-N because he was elected MPA on the PTI ticket in the May 2013 general election.

So sure were the PTI Town and District Council members in Peshawar’s PK-1 assembly constituency about Ziaullah Afridi joining the PML-N that they closed ranks and held their own meeting to express solidarity with the party and Imran Khan. One PTI councillor said he was a follower of Imran Khan and would remain loyal to him.

Ziaullah Afridi was arrested on corruption charges by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission, which filed references against him in the accountability court. He was the first minister to have been arrested during the rule of his own party, PTI. The PTI leadership subsequently expelled him from the party.

During his custody, a number of politicians from the ANP, JUI-F, PML-N, etc met Ziaullah Afridi when he was shifted from the Peshawar Central Prison to the Lady Reading Hospital for treatment. At the time, Ziaullah Afridi’s aides used to claim that the leaders of these parties had invited him to join their party.

Following his release on bail on the orders of Peshawar High Court, Ziaullah Afridi has become active in politics again. He has been meeting his voters, campaigning for Peshawar’s uplift and weighing his political options as the PTI was unwilling to take him back.

Ziaullah Afridi has been particularly critical of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak since his release from the jail. He has accused him inside and outside the provincial assembly of failing to implement the PTI manifesto and also involvement in corruption. The feud between the two has closed all doors for Ziaullah Afridi to rejoin the PTI even though in the past the party chairman Imran Khan used to profusely praise him for his commitment to the party.