MUZAFFARABAD: Kashmiri leader Sardar Sikandar Hayat on Friday rejoined Muslim Conference (MC) party after ending his association with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz after more than a decade.

Mr Hayat announced the decision in the presence of an MC delegation led by former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan. He was accompanied by his younger brother and PML-N divisional president Sardar Naeem Khan and a local PML-N office-bearer, but not by his son Sardar Farooq Sikandar, a minister in the Raja Farooq Haider-led government.

Mr Hayat, who was twice elected the AJK prime minister and once the AJK president, was among pioneers of the PML-N in AJK.

After the change of government in Pakistan, Mr Hayat made an allegedly harsh comment about Mr Sharif, in addition to calling on Prime Minister Imran Khan. The PML-N removed his name from its website after these moves.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2021