PTI’s Arbab Amir gets a boost after reconciling with brothers

PESHAWAR: The candidature of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Arbab Amir Ayub for the National Assembly constituency NA-4 received a boost Friday when his brothers Arbab Zahoor and Arbab Azhar reconciled with him through the efforts of family and clan members.

The split in the family had affected Arbab Amir’s election campaign and was being exploited by his rivals. He is the step-brother of Arbab Zahoor and Arbab Azhar and family disputes had kept them apart in the recent past. Also, their family had traditionally been part of the Awami National Party (ANP), but Arbab Amir’s decision to join the PTI some months ago had also caused divisions.

The elders in the extended family of Arbab Amir made efforts to reconcile the estranged brothers with each other. Their efforts finally succeeded and the reconciliation took place.

Their elder brother Arbab Mohammad Zahir, who died sometime ago, had won election as MNA three times from this constituency. He had also served as minister of state. He remained associated with the ANP all his life.

Meanwhile, a dissident PTI activist, Dr Inayat from Chamkani village in the NA-4 constituency, who was contesting the by-election as an independent, dropped out of the contest on Friday. He and a few other PTI activists had applied for the party ticket to contest the NA-4 Peshawar by-election, but were angered when the PTI leadership preferred newcomer Arbab Amir and gave him the ticket. Some of them deposited their nomination papers for taking part in the bypolls, but are now gradually quitting the contest.

The NA-4 seat fell vacant when MNA Gulzar Khan died recently. He was elected on the PTI ticket, but later developed differences with the party leadership, including Imran Khan. His son Asad Gulzar joined the PPP recently and is now contesting as its candidate.

Other important candidates include PML-N’s Nasir Khan Musazai, ANP’s Khushdil Khan, and Jamaat-i-Islami Wasil Khan. The Mill Muslim League is backing an independent candidate while the Labbaik Pakistan Party is also supporting a candidate. The candidates of these two parties had earlier contested the bye-election for NA-120 Lahore sear and were placed fourth and third, respectively, in the contest after the winner Kulsoom Nawaz of the PML-N and runner-up Dr Yasmin Rasheed. The candidates of the PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami were placed far behind with insignificant number of votes.