PESHAWAR: Veteran politician, former president of Awami National Party (ANP) and a well-known Pashto poet, Muhammad Ajmal Khattak, died in Akora Khattak, Nowshera, on Sunday. He was 85.

According to his son Aimal Khattak, his father breathed his last on late Sunday evening after protracted illness. He had been bedridden for sometime due to a host of diseases but was mentally alert.

Born in September 1925, Ajmal Khattak was a committed political worker who suffered imprisonment and self-exile for years due to his strong convictions. But he was also a literary man, having published a number of books of prose and poetry, mostly in Pashto and some in Urdu languages.

His funeral prayer would be held today (Monday) after Zohar prayers in Akora Khattak. The ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan while eulogising his services announced three-day mourning for the deceased party leader.

Mr Khattak started his career as a schoolteacher in a government school. But he left the job to become a journalist. He worked with dailies Anjam and Shahbaz and did well in both Urdu and Pashto journalism. He later began writing columns on political and social issues.
Ajmal Khattak lost the election for the MNA slot in 1970 from Nowshera.

He finally won the assembly seat in the 1990 elections to become an MNA on the ANP ticket. He also remained a senator.

His early political career began during the Quit India Movement after he came under the influence of the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement. He was forced to leave the school due to his involvement in that Movement. He was the stage secretary at the United Democratic Front rally held at Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi, on March 23, 1973, when shots were fired at the UDF leaders including Khan Abdul Wali Khan. After that incident, he fled to Afghanistan and lived an exile life till 1990. Ajmal Khattak had served the ANP as central president for two terms when Wali Khan stepped down from the post.

In the 1993 general elections, Ajmal Khattak lost his re-election bid in Nowshera to the PPP candidate Major Gen (Retd) Naseerullah Babar.

However, he was elected to the Senate in March 1994 from NWFP Assembly.

The decision to join PONM was made despite strong pressure from party critics. Eventually, Khattak succumbed to party pressure and the ANP left PONM by joining the Grand Democratic Alliance.

- Staff Reporter