Veteran politician, eminent writer and renowned Pastho poet, Ajmal Khan Khattak died due to protracted illness in his hometown Akora Khattak in Nowshera district on Sunday evening. He was 85. The funeral prayer of ANP senior leader Ajmal Khattak would be held at Akora Khattak at 3 pm in Nowshera on Monday. Large numbers of people are coming to his residence for offering fateha.
He was born in Akora Khattak Nowshera district on September 15, 1925. During his long political career spread over several decades, he also struggled for liberation of sub-continent from British Raj.
He was elected as a member of NWFP Assembly and served as a Provincial Minister in the cabinet of Mufti Mehmood's NAP- JUI government in 1972. He also remained in exile for many years while fighting against dictatorship.
He ended his exile in 1989 after the Awami National Party (ANP), the successor of the NAP, entered into an electoral alliance with Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League- led Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI). In the general election of October 1990, Ajmal Khattak was elected from his home district of Nowshera to the National Assembly.
In the 1993 general elections, Ajmal Khattak lost re-election bid in Nowshera to the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) candidate Major General Naseerullah Babar. His two terms as President of the ANP were noted primarily for the close alliance with former opponents, the Muslim League, after the alliance collapsed in January 1998 over the renaming of the province of NWFP to Pakthunkhwa and Ajmal Khattak role in leading the ANP briefly into joining an alliance known as PONM.
The decision to join PONM was made despite strong pressure from party critics who preferred the ANP to ally themselves with Pakistan People's Party. Eventually, Khattak succumbed to party pressure and the Awami National Party left PONM by joining the Grand Democratic Alliance which included the Pakistan People's Party.
He also authored 13 books in Pushto and Urdu including a History of Pushto Literature (in Urdu) 'Pakistan Main Qaumi Jamhoori Tehrikin, Da Ghirat Chagha, Batoor, Gul auo Perhar, Guloona auo Takaloona, Jalawatan ki Shairee, Pukhtana Shora and Da Wakht Chagha. As a writer he served as editor of various newspapers and periodicals, including Anjam, Shahbaz, Adal and Rahber as well as script writer for Radio Pakistan. The ANP Central Information Secretary Senator Zahid Khan termed his death a great political loss for the ANP and the country as whole. He lauded his political and poetic services. He said that politicians and statesmen like Ajmal Khattak were born in centuries. He said that vacuum created after his death would take years to fill.