Veteran politician and leader of Awami National Party (ANP) Ajmal Khan Khattak who had died after a protracted illness on Sunday has been laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Akhora Khattak, Nowshera. He was 85.
The funeral of late Ajmal Khattak was offered at the Akora Khattak Degree College but to the surprise of the party workers as well as general public the top ANP leadership including Asfandyar Wali Khan, Afrasyab Khattak as well as Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti did not attend the funeral.
People from across NWFP mostly the nationalist party workers paid tributes to the political and intellectual services of Khattak who was also a well-known poet.
Born at Akora Khattak, Nowshera district, in northwest Pakistan on September 15, 1925, Khattak, throughout his life, had struggled for the democratic norms.
During his long political career, he was elected as a member of the NWFP Provincial Assembly and served as the Provincial Minister in the cabinet of Mufti Mehmood’s NAP- JUI government in 1972.
He also remained in exile in Afghanistan for several years while fighting against the dictatorship.
Khattak was organiser of the United Democratic Front and was the stage secretary of a public meeting at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on March 23, 1973, when shots were fired at the leaders, including the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan, and several political workers were killed. After the incident, he went into exile in Afghanistan. He returned in 1989.
In the general elections of October 1990, Ajmal Khattak was elected from his home district of Nowshera in the National Assembly and also remained a Senator from 1996 to 1999.
Ajmal Khattak was a confidant of Frontier Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and a member of the Quit India Movement.
Khattak was associated with the Indian independence movement against the British in the NWFP. He also gained a large following as an eminent writer, Pashto poet and philosopher.
He began his political career during the Quit India movement after being influenced by Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar movement. He was forced to leave school due to his involvement in the Quit India movement.
Later, he served as editor of various newspapers and periodicals, including "Anjam," "Shahbaz," "Adal" and "Rahber" and as a script writer for Radio Pakistan.
He was also a literary figure and have many books to his credit. His popular books include Batoor, Gul Parhar, Guloona Takaloona, Da Ze Pagal Wom?, Zhwand Au Fan, Kachkol, Da Afghan Nang, Da Wakht Chagha, Da Zhwand Chagha and Qisa Zama Da Adabi Zhwand.
His first poem was published in 1944 in the magazine Pakhtun and the first collection of his poems, Da Ghairat Chagha, was published in 1958, but it was banned in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
During his self-imposed exile in Afghanistan for 16 years, he was closely associated with the Pakhtunistan movement.
During his years in Kabul, Khattak was a close confidant of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and enjoyed excellent relations with leaders of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, including President Nur Muhammad Taraki, Babrak Karmal and Mohammad Najibullah.
No doubt with his death Frontier has lost a pragmatic politicians as well as a fine literary figure.
The ANP ministers Bashir Bilour, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Zahir Khan and Haji Adeel were among the prominent leaders who attended the funeral while the top leaders of the JUI-F Mulana Samiul Haq, PML-N leaders Raja Zafarul Haq, Pir Sabir Shah, and Iqbal Zafar Jagara and others also attended his funeral prayer.
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
Post new comment