PPP leader Bakht Baidar passes away

TIMERGARA: A senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader of Lower Dir and former provincial minister Bakht Baidar Khan died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Peshawar here on Friday morning.

According to his relatives, he had suffered a heart attack four days ago. He was admitted to a private health facility in Hayatabad for treatment where he expired.

The deceased was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard at Tarnaw village in Adenzai tehsil of Lower Dir district. People from various walks of life, including sitting and former lawmakers, politicians and political workers attended his funeral prayer.

Bakht Baidar started his political career in 1979 from the district council.

He was elected to the district council twice, first in 1979 and later in 1983.

In 1993, he became a member of the provincial assembly for the first time by contesting the election on the PPP ticket. He later parted ways with PPP to join the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP). He served as secretary-general of the QWP and contested the election from PK-97 seat in May 2013 general election on its ticket and won his seat by defeating a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) candidate.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) formed a government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in alliance with QWP and Bakht Baidar was given the portfolio of provincial minister for technical education and minerals.