PESHAWAR, May 14: New faces will dominate the 124-strong Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly as 59 members are set to begin their career in parliamentary politics traditionally held by old guards.

Young and new lawmakers like Tufail Anjum and Ubaidullah Mayar are likely to make their presence felt.

With the emergence of fresh people with no previous work in the House will be litmus test for them due to lack of acquaintances with matters relating to the government’s departments.

There is also a likelihood that some of them have proved good orators and could enliven the proceedings when they are required to do so.

It remained to be seen but their arrival is a welcome development.

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), which emerged as the largest party in the provincial assembly after bagging 35 of the total 99 general seats during the May 11 elections, has only three lawmakers, including Pervez Khattak, Yousaf Ayub Khan and Sardar Mohammad Idrees, who have to their credits experience of parliamentary business.

Before joining PTI, Pervez Khattak was the minister for irrigation in the Ameer Haider Hoti government and had also served as district nazim in Nowshera.

Yousaf Ayub Khan, who returned from Haripur, remained the minister for local government in Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi-led government in 1997, while Sardar Idrees from Abbottabad, who runs family business in the UK, also headed the same department as minister in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government in 2002.

Mr Khattak, who belongs to Nowshera district, has won two seats, including one of the National Assembly and the other of the provincial assembly.

If he quits his provincial assembly seat and goes for the National Assembly, then PTI will have to bank mostly on the experience of Yousaf Ayub and Sardar Idrees in the provincial assembly.

Eleven debutants belong to Peshawar. They were elected on PTI tickets.

Among the new entrants is Yasin Khan Khalil from PK-5, Peshawar. He was a diehard worker of the Pakistan People’s Party, who was very active in student politics from the platform of People’s Students Federation (PSF). He continued with politics after studies and was elected as town III Nazim in 2001.

Mr Khalil contested elections in 2008 as independent candidate after PPP denied him a ticket. He lost elections but managed to get a sizeable votes.

Prominent among senior campaigners and senior legislatures, who were elected on May 11, are former chief ministers, like Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi, Akram Khan Durrani and Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Israrullah Khan Gandapur, Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, Sirajul Haq and Qalandar Khan Lodhi.

Mr Gandapur, son of former chief minister Sardar Inayatullah Khan, and Sikandar Khan Sherpao, son of Aftab Sherpao, did a hat trick. Sirajul Haq was the senior minister in the MMA government. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which secured 12 seats, is coming to the assembly with experienced lawmakers. Former chief minister Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi is likely to be its parliamentary leader.

Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota, Raja Faisal Zaman, Wajehuz Zaman Khan and Abdul Sattar remained members of the previous assembly. Ameer Haider Hoti has also won two seats from his hometown, Mardan, one of the National Assembly and the other of the provincial assembly.

Interestingly, only 24 members of the previous assembly have retained their seats, while the rest either did not contest the election or faced defeat.

Among losers are Abdul Akbar Khan, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Sakibullah Chamkani, Anwar Saifullah Khan, Sanaullah Khan Miankhel, Ghani Dad Khan, Habibur Rehman Tanoli, former speaker Kiramatullah Khan Chagharmatti, former deputy speaker Khushdil Khan, former chief minister Pir Sabir Shah, Qazi Asad and Syed Mureed Kazim.

Abdul Akbar Khan was PPP parliamentary leader and one of the most experienced lawmakers in the House.

Opinion

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