Health, education issues top priority: Qamar Zaman

PESHAWAR: Former world squash champion Qamar Zaman has said he will address health and education issues and work for the promotion of sports if elected in the July 25 general election.

Qamar Zaman is contesting the election on renumbered provincial assembly constituency PK-75 on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket.

He said the Election Commission had accepted his nomination papers and he had launched his election campaign.

Qamar Zaman said he has a passion for public service and wanted to try his luck.

“To establish separate colleges for girls and boys in the area would be my top priorities as my constituency doesn’t such colleges,” he added.

He hoped the people of his constituency would vote for him and give him the chance to serve them in a better way.

Born in Quetta in 1952, Qamar Zaman was one of the leading squash players in the 1970s and 1980s.

His father was living in Quetta due to his job and later his family returned to the native village Nawan Killay in Peshawar in the 1970s.

He rose to fame after winning the Pakistan Junior Squash Championship in 1968. Qamar Zaman’s biggest achievement was winning the British Open in 1975.

He reached the semi-final of the British Amateur championship during his first trip to the United Kingdom in 1973.

He played the semi-final of the British Open and won the Australian Amateur championship in 1974.

Qamar Zaman defeated the defending champion of British Open, Geoff Hunt of Australia, one of the dominant squash players in the 1970s, in the quarter-finals, and then won the title by defeating his fellow Pakistani player Gogi Alauddin by 3-0 sets in 1975.

The squash icon played four finals of World Open but lost to Geoff Hunt in 1976, 1979 and 1980, and to Jahangir Khan in 1984.

Qamar Zaman won over 100 international squash events in his 19 years long international career and remained number one in 1975, 1978 and 1980s. He also remained number two for 11 years.

He was awarded the Presidential Pride of Performance Award, Sportsman of the Year and several other awards.

Qamar Zaman remained the president of Pakistan International Airlines Officer Union for 10 years, senior vice-president of Asian Squash Federation and vice president of Pakistan Squash Federation.

He said there were health and education issues in his village and in the constituency. “I want to address the two issues and work for the promotion of sports on a priority basis,” he added.

Former provincial sports minister Syed Aqil Shah is contesting on the Awami National Party (ANP) ticket from the PK-75 constituency. Former lawmaker Ibrahim Qasmi is also contesting from the constituency.

The MMA and PTI too have vote-bank in PK-75. The PTI’s Arif Yousaf had won the seat in the 2013 general election, but he is unlikely to get the ticket after being accused of indiscipline in the Senate election held in March.