KARACHI: Former federal minister Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat joined the Pakistan Peoples Party on Monday, more than 14 years after being elected on the PPP ticket in 2002.

He later set up his own faction named PPP-Patriots and finally joined the PML-Q.

Mr Hayat remained a key member of the federal cabinet under prime minister Shaukat Aziz.

A brief statement issued by the Bilawal House announced that Mr Hayat and another former federal minister Khalid Ahmed Khan Kharral had joined the party after meeting PPP-P president Asif Ali Zardari. “Former federal ministers Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat and Khalid Ahmed Khan Kharral called on the president of PPP-Parliamentarians and former President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and announced that they have joined the party.

“Former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Haji Nawaz Khokhar, and Malik Mushtaq Awan were also present on the occasion,” said the statement.

Mr Kharral remained a federal minister in the PPP governments in 1988 and 1996.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2017