BAJAUR: Mubarak Zeb Khan, MNA-elect from Bajaur tribal district, has said he will join the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council in the National Assembly if the party allows him to nominate the candidate for the PK-22 seat, which he also won in the April 21 by-elections but vacated it and retained the NA-8 seat.

Sources close to Mubarak Zeb, who won both the seats as an independent candidate, said the demand was made during recent meetings between leaders of his group – RZK – (named after the initials of his slain elder brother Rehan Zeb Khan) and PTI central leaders in Islamabad.

The sources said RZK delegation headed by PTI former district president and Nawagai tehsil council chairman Dr Khalilur Rahman met party’s central general secretary Umer Ayub Khan, former NA speaker Asad Qaiser and central information secretary Rauf Hassan.

The PTI leaders were told that Mubarak Zeb was willing to rejoin the party as he had remained its active member, but contested the by-elections independently after he was denied the party ticket.

The RZK leaders said naming of the candidate for the provincial assembly seat vacated by Mubarak Zeb should rest with them instead of PTI parliamentary committee.

The sources said PTI central leaders thanked Mubarak Zeb for his willingness to rejoin the party, but declined to accept his demand over award of ticket. The PTI leadership argued that award of tickets was the job of the party’s parliamentary committee.

Meanwhile, Mubarak Zeb, in a statement, said members of the delegation assured the PTI leadership that the candidate nominated by his group would win the seat.

However, another source told Dawn that Mubarak Zeb would join the PTI irrespective of who awards the ticket for PK-22 because he had won both the seats with the support of PTI workers and on the promise he would join PTI after winning the elections.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2024