HARIPUR: The withdrawal of Omar Ayub Khan from the by-election for NA-19, Haripur, has enhanced the chances of Dr Raja Aamir Zaman of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to bag the seat easily as no other party is in a position to make it a contest.

The by-elections are set in the mid of August 2015 and these days only one candidate, Mr Zaman, is active in the field.

The seat fell vacant after the Supreme Court on June19 last ordered holding of re-election in the constituency. Mr Ayub has pronounced his decision through an advertisement in the local press.

Giving reasons for his abstention from the contest, he said:”My mother is not well.

PML-N leader says he has to look after his bed-ridden mother

She is bed-ridden and it is my prime duty to look after her. It is difficult for me to participate in the by-elections.” He said that he would continue to serve people of his constituency who had reposed their confidence in him in the past. He said that he would fight from PML-N platform for people’s rights.

Mr Ayub was the only choice with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, who could make the by-election a good contest. At present, PML-N does not have a suitable contender to challenge the rising tide of PTI in the district.

The Awami National Party, Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Jamaat-i-Islami are aliens for the voters of this constituency, because these parties had never bothered to hold even a public meeting in this part of the province.

These parties had fielded their candidates in 2013 general elections, but PML-N and PTI were the winner and runner-up.

The PML-N high-ups in Islamabad had asked Qazi Mohammad Asad, a former provincial minister, to contest for the seat, but he politely refused to do so. “I cannot do a thing which is out of my capacity. But, I will work for Pir Sabir Shah or any other nominee with aplomb,” he told Dawn.

PML-N district president Hamid Ali Shah said that the party would decide about its candidate in its meeting in Islamabad on Sunday. He said:”We will not give a walkover to anybody.”

Mr Ayub didn’t give him (Mr Zaman) a walkover without a reason. According to the observers, the political temperature and unbridled lawlessness in the country may upset the entire scenario in the coming months.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2015

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