Former Haripur MNA rejoins PML-N

HARIPUR: Former Member National Assembly (MNA) Sardar Mushtaq Khan announced rejoining the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Saturday.
The political observers believe that the development would strengthen the position of PML-N candidate Babar Nawaz Khan in the by-election on constituency NA-19, Harpur.
Sardar Mushtaq made the announcement during a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad. The PML-N’s provincial chief Pir Sabir Shah, MNA Capt (r) Safdar, Deputy Speaker National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi and other senior party leaders were also present on the occasion.
The sources said that Sardar Mushtaq had left the party ahead of the 2013 general elections after developing differences over accepting former NA speaker Gohar Ayub Khan and his son Omar Ayub Khan in the party fold without consultation with him.
Nawaz Sharif, according to party sources, welcomed Mushtaq who remained affiliated with the PML-N for more than two decades. When approached, the former MNA confirmed that he had rejoined the party.
Sardar Mushtaq, the scion of the district’s largest Gujjar tribe, enjoys considerable influence over his clan and he had won the seat for his party, bagging highest number of 100,000 plus votes during the 2008 elections. He had defeated former state minister for finance Omar Ayub, who contested on the ticket of PML-Q, and Dr Raja Amir Zaman, an independent candidate.
But due to some differences in the party, a number of activists from Haripur, led by Sardar Mushtaq, joined the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 2012.
Mushtaq, a close relative of former chief justice Peshawar High Court and Federal Shariat Court Sardar Fakhr-e-Alam Khan, was elected member of the provincial assembly from constituency PK-49 by defeating Dr Raja Amir Zaman, who is son of former caretaker chief minister and MNA Raja Sikandar Zaman (late).