The PTI has given its ticket to Zeeshan Khanzada, the son of Khanzada Khan, who will be his father’s successor in politics, for by elections on a general seat of the senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has already issued the schedule for elections on the seat vacated by Khanzada Khan his after resignation. Polls will be held on November 26.
Hailing from Mardan, Khanzada Khan’s family has been associated with the PPP since its inception. Now, its newest face has formally joined the PTI after a meeting with the prime minister in Islamabad.
Khanzada Khan won national assembly elections on PPP’s ticket twice, once in 1993 and then in 2008. In the 2015 senate elections, he became senator on a PPP ticket from KP. Although PPP had only six lawmakers in the house, Khanzada Khan had bagged 16 votes. He resigned from the seat to pave way for his son Zeeshan to enter politics and by-elections are going to be held to fill the slot.
Khanzada Khan won national assembly elections on PPP’s ticket twice, once in 1993 and then in 2008. In the 2015 senate elections, he became senator on a PPP ticket
Zeeshan wanted a PPP ticket in Mardan in the 2018 general election but the party allotted the provincial assembly ticket to Khaista Begum, widow of Abdul Akbar Khan, and the national assembly ticket was given to Khwaja Muhammad Khan Hoti. The family developed differences with the PPP when they couldn’t get party tickets in the general polls.
“The family opposed Khaista Begum and Zeeshan campaigned for the PTI’s candidates in the general elections 2018 as he couldn’t get the tickets,” said Gohar Inqilabi, deputy information secretary of the PPP in KP.
Sources in the PTI are divided over the induction of Khanzada Khan’s family in the party. Some say that KP senior minister Atif Khan, who is also said to be a relative of Zeeshan, brought him to the party to strengthen his position in Mardan to counter Awami National Party’s Ameer Haider Khan Hoti. Others hint that Defence Minister Pervez Khattak standing behind Khanzada Khan’s family to counter Atif Khan in Mardan, since Khattak and Atif are at loggerheads in the party over KP chief minister’s chair which resultantly came to Mahmood Khan in the tug of war between the two.
Sources say that Khattak accompanied Zeeshan in the meeting with the prime minister last month in which he joined the PTI. The other side maintains that Atif, who is a close relative of Zeeshan, had told him to take Khattak’s side since he has a powerful lobby in the party and in this way, Zeeshan would easily get a party ticket and a good position in the party.
Senior journalist Shamim Shahid says that Atif is the only person in Mardan who decides party matters in the district and Zeeshan has his support to further strengthen his base.
“It is certainly a dent in the politics of PPP in KP and this development would benefit Khwaja Hoti’s family as they would be the only strong family left with the PPP in the district,” Shamim told The Friday Times.
Gohar Inqilabi refuted the notion that Khanzada Khan’s family will have any impact on PPP’s political future.
“They were working against party interest covertly which was more damaging than open opposition,” he said, adding that the family used PPP for personal interests and could not digest it when they were not given a party ticket. “The Senate seat was bagged after a lot of efforts and its vacating in itself is a shame for the family because it was a PPP seat and now they would be contesting for it on PTI’s ticket.”
The writer is a journalist based in Peshawar