SWABI: Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker Asad Qaisar’s bid to contest the general elections from three constituencies, including the PK-43, Swabi-I, has annoyed the other hopefuls, who have warned him if he does not spare one of the seats, he should be ready to face backlash of workers.

Anwar Haqdad, PTI district president, told Dawn that Mr Qaisar had filed nomination papers for PK-43, PK-44, Swabi-II and NA-18, Swabi-1, and his brother, former MNA Aqibullah Khan, had filed papers for PK-44.

Majority of party leaders close to Mr Qaisar said there was strong possibility that he would contest the July 25 elections from three constituencies.

A PTI leader said Mr Qaisar was likely to give the PK-43 ticket to his brother if he felt a revolt within the party.

The party leaders said the PK-43 was the only constituency from where 10 candidates had applied for the ticket noted among them Rangaiz Khan, Usman Sher, Nadeem Khan and Mohammad Younus.

The leaders said if Mr Qaisar decided to contest election from three constituencies, he would face strong resistance because his rivals would get an opportunity to justify their anti-Qaisar approach.

“If he (Mr Qaisar) fails to understand feelings of workers and sticks with his self-serving approach then the people also have the right to adopt an independence policy which will culminate in far-reaching impact on his election results,” warned Mr Younus.

Rangaiz Khan said this time Mr Qaisar should be ready for facing backlash from workers if he stuck to his ‘self-serving’ politics.

It is learnt that jirga members from Gadoon region visited Mr Rangaiz’s residence at Baja and appealed to him to give up resistance and support Mr Qaisar.

However, he rejected their approach and demanded to be awarded the ticket for PK-43.

Haseeb Ahmad, a worker from Topi city said, “Unity is the first and foremost thing for PTI success in the elections.”

Azmat Khan, another activist, said if PTI failed to win from PK-43 then the leaders would be responsible.

WOMAN’S BODY RECOVERED: The body of a woman was recovered from a graveyard in Adina area of Razaar tehsil. The body was thrown there after being killed.

The deceased hailed from Mardan and her husband, Azam Khan allegedly killed her.

The cause of the incident was stated to be a domestic issue. Police have registered an FIR against the alleged killer.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2018