MNA Shahjee Gul Afridi make remarkable comeback

PESHAWAR: The Member of National Assembly Shahjee Gul Afridi made a remarkable comeback in the electoral politics of Khyber tribal district when he got his son and nephew elected to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

He had lost to Pir Noorul Haq Qadri of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the contest for the National Assembly seat in the July 2018 general election.

Earlier in the 2013 general election he had defeated Noorul Haq Qadri, who is presently a federal minister, and then campaigned vigorously for Fata’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Shahjee Gul Afridi’s son Bilawal Afridi won from the PK-106 constituency defeating PTI’s Amir Khan Afridi and other strong candidates in the Jamrud area.

His nephew Shafiq Sher Afridi was elected MPA from the PK-105 constituency.

The PTI suffered from internal differences in the constituency as its candidate Shahid Shinwari wasn’t backed Noorul Haq Qadri who reportedly supported independent Shermat Khan Afridi who was runner-up.

Though all three provincial assembly seats in Khyber district were won by independents, Shahjee Gul Afridi’s family scored an impressive victory by winning two of these seats.

The third seat of Bara tehsil was won by independent candidate Mohammad Shafiq Afridi, an industrialist close to influential tribal elder Haji Zahir Shah. He defeated former federal minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi and PTI’s Zubair Afridi.