NOWSHERA: Many old guards of the ruling PTI have applied for party tickets for by-election in PK-64 and PK-61 constituencies hoping to get nominations.

The two seats were vacated by defence minister Pervez Khattak after retaining the local National Assembly one he’d also won in the July 25 election.

The PTI nomination hopefuls said they had served the party for a long time and during difficult times and therefore, they expected of the leadership to give them election tickets instead of naming family members of influential Pervez Khattak for the two seats.

Noted among them are Mian Zahoor Ahmad Kakakhel from PK-64 ticket and Sajid Faheem Mashwani from PK-61.

Khattak’s brother, son also nomination hopefuls

Mr Kakakhel, a former district councillor, claimed he was the first one in the area to hoist the PTI flag on his house. He told Dawn that he had joined the party in 1999 and served it wholeheartedly and to the best of his abilities thereafter.

Mr Kakakhel said PTI chairman Imran Khan had named him candidate for 2002 and 2008 elections.

Members of the Pervez Khattak family also eye the PK-64 and PK-61 tickets saying the seats were vacated by their elder and former chief minister Pervez Khattak.

These nomination aspirants include Pervez Khattak’s younger brother Liaquat Khattak and son Ibrahim Khattak.

The PTI sources claimed that the leadership had assumed that none of the party workers would apply for PK-64 and PK-61 tickets after members of the Pervez Khattak family did so. They said Sajid Fahim Mashwani had applied for ticket challenging the Khattak family and considered it to be his right to be fielded by the ruling PTI in the by-election in line with democratic norms. The PTI nomination aspirants urged the leadership to shun dynastic politics and award election tickets to old guards.

POLICEMAN KILLED: A police official was killed and two others suffered injuries when suspected outlaws fired gunshots at them in Kahi village here late on Monday.

The police said their personnel came under attack during a raid of the hideout of suspected outlaws.

They said the injured were shifted to Nowshera’s District Headquarters Hospital, where constable Nazir Hussain died of critical wounds.

The police said two other personnel, including Noorul Wahab and Asif Khan, were later shifted to Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital due to critical condition. Funeral prayers for the martyred policeman were later offered in his police station with senior police officers being in attendance.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2018