ANP makes big effort to win assembly seats in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) has carefully chosen candidates ahead of other parties while making a big effort to win most of the national and provincial assemblies’ seats from the provincial metropolis.

In Peshawar, ANP’s senior vice-president Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, despite his old age is contesting election from his home constituency, NA-31.

He had won the by-election against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Gul Badshah after losing to PTI chairman Imran Khan in the 2013 general election. Imran had convincingly defeated him by 66,000 votes in the May 11general election.

Before that, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour had been a member of the Senate. He served as federal minister thrice.

Ghulam Bilour survived a suicide attack in 2013 that left several people dead and scores injured. His younger brother Bashir Bilour embraced martyrdom in a suicide attack in Peshawar in 2012.

Ghulam Bilour also contested the 1988 general election, but lost to the then Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Aftab Sherpao. However, he won the seat in the by-polls against Mian Mohammad Iqbal of Pakistan Muslim League.

He subsequently defeated Benazir Bhutto from the same constituency. His only son Shabbir Ahmed Bilour was killed in 1997 in an election-related violence.

Ghulam Bilour had announced a bounty for anyone who could kill the maker of a blasphemous video when he was the federal minister for railways.

Arbab Kamal Khan is the ANP candidate on NA-29 Peshawar. The 42-year old is a graduate in Economics from the University of Peshawar. He worked as a lecturer for two years before starting his own business.

Arbab Kamal started his political career in the 2013 general election from the platform of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), but later joined the ANP.

He remained a naib nazim of Town-IV and resigned recently to contest the upcoming election. He is a nephew of late Arbab Hidayatullah, who had served as IGP Sindh. ANP’s former minister of state Arbab Zahir and his brother Arbab Amir Ayub, who won the NA-4 Peshawar by-election on the PTI ticket, belong to the same family.

The ANP has fielded Muhammad Alamgir Khalil on NA-30 Peshawar. The 65-year old graduate of Islamia College has been in politics since his student life. He was general secretary of the Khyber Union in 1975 and had been arrested after the assassination of PPP leader Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao.

He had left the ANP after developing differences with the party leadership and contested the 1993 general election on the PPP ticket. He has contested all elections since 1993.

He was elected to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (then NWFP) Assembly in the 2008 election. Alamgir Khalil is running for the National Assembly seat for the first time.

The ANP candidate for NA-27, Arbab Tahir Nadeem, is a first-time contender for the National Assembly constituency. He belongs to Lala Killay located near Peshawar and graduated from Gomal University with a degree in Public Administration in 1998.

He worked with National Commission for Human Development for a few years.

Arbab Tahir Nadeem gave credit to the late ANP leader Arbab Ayub Jan for his entry into active politics and described him as his mentor. He said he contested the previous local government election on the insistence of late Arbab Ayub.

He claimed to have won the election for the town-III council but a member of the provincial assembly rigged the polls in favour of his candidate. He said he had enough party and personal votes to win the general election.

Shafi Akbar, a resident of Hazarkhwani village, is contesting election for the first time. Comparatively less educated among the party candidates for National Assembly seats in Peshawar district, his family has been in politics for around four decades. His brother Sheikh Karim Jan is a town council member. He is running for NA-28 where other parties have also fielded some strong candidates, including PTI’s Arbab Amir Ayub.