Sherpao, Muslim Raza decide to dismantle PPP; create a new party

Islamabad
One of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) factions will be vanished from the national horizon of Pakistan and Parliament next week as Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao’s faction of the PPP has decided to dismantle its structure and create a new party with a new name, new flag and new manifesto next week in Peshawar. The faction has currently been present in the National Assembly and Provincial Assembly of the KPK. It was erstwhile also present in the Upper House of the Parliament, Senate.
Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao who hails from Charssadda and served in Pakistan Army from where he sought retirement on the instructions of late ZA Bhutto way back in 1975 when his elder brother late Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao was killed in a bomb blast during a public meeting in Peshawar. Since then Aftab Khan Sherpao selflessly worked for the organisation of the PPP but he developed difference with the PPP leadership in 2002 thanks to late General Naseerullah Khan Babar. He opted to establish his own faction of the PPP and contested polls on his own PPP and did relatively well in the elections. He was chief minister of the KPK twice and federal minister for five occasions.
Aftab Sherpao has confirmed his decision to cease his association with his PPP past. Aftab Khan Sherpao who rose to the rank of Major in the Army took part in both the actions against India in 1965 and 1971.
With the elimination of the PPP Sherpao, the Parliament will be left with two PPP; one PPP under Zardari while the other National Peoples Party of late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao who had been active in the politics on country level now has decided to work on Pakhtoon nationalist’s pattern with a different banner.
Well placed political sources told The News here Tuesday that the new party will have predominately Pakhtoon title depicting Pakhtoon identity and culture. It will have solid foundations in Balochistan besides KPK and it will also be visible in Karachi where the world’s largest Pakhtoon concentration is situated. The new party and leadership will decide about the fate of the incumbent members of the party with regard to their quitting or continuation in the respective houses, the sources said.
It is understood that emergence of new Pakhtoon nationalists party will have conspicuous impact in Pakhtoon areas during the polls where the people are fed-up with the present groups/parties. Some Pakhtoon stalwarts will also announce to join new party next week when it will come into being, the sources said.