HARIPUR: With only four days left to the final date of filing nomination papers for the by-election to be held in the Haripur’s only National Assembly seat NA 18on Nov 23, the Ayub family, also known as Tareens of Haripur, appears to be caught in a catch-22 situation over who the candidate should be, claim family and PTI sources.

The seat fell vacant following disqualification and conviction of PTI MNA from NA-18 and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan vide an ECP notification on August 5, 2025, in terms of Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution and vacation of interim relief by the Peshawar High Court through a judgement announced on Oct 1, 2025.

The ECP declared on Oct 08 that nomination papers for the NA-18by-electionwould be filed from Oct 15 to 17, while the revised and final list of candidates would be displayed on Nov 5. Election symbols will be allotted on Nov 6 and the polling will take place on Nov 23, according to it.

Mr Omar has filed a petition with the Supreme Court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution against the order of the divisional bench of the Peshawar High Court, giving a clear message to his detractors that he is not going to give up.

Names of Omar Ayub’s wife, cousin under discussion as candidates

However, in response to the evolving political situation in the backdrop of the election schedule, he also started approaching his supporters and friends to gather their consent and support for a would-be nominee of the family and party as his replacement.

According to family and PTI sources, the Ayub family is still in a state of indecision about who to replace Omar Ayub Khan, the grandson of Field Marshal Ayub Khan late.

They claimed that currently, the names of Shehrnaz Omar Ayub Khan, wife of Omar Ayub Khan, and OAK’s first cousin Yousuf Ayub Khan were under discussion as the candidates.

A family source told Dawn that in case PTI’s leadership decided about contesting the by-election, the family’s first preference would be Mrs Omar Ayub Khan as the consensus candidate subject to Imran Khan’s nod.

“As the homework and gestures show that Tareens appear to be committed not to leave the space open for their rivals as they believe that their similar blunder in the by the 2015 election [leaving space open and helping Babar Nawaz contest] cost them heavily and would be certainly left with no option but to nominate Yousuf Ayub Khan as independent candidate,” he said.

Despite being daughter of a renowned and politically strong Saifullah family of Lakki Marwat, Mrs Omar Ayub has never been in practical politics or contested any election in the past. Her expected contest against Babar Nawaz, former MNA from the same constituency, would require her and her family to do some extra work for retaining the seat.

On the other hand, Yousuf Ayub Khan, being a seasoned politician with a strong support base in all three tehsils of Haripur, could be a very formidable candidate for rivals.

“As the family appeared to be unwilling to give chance to any other PTI worker to contest, OAK is left with two option either try to keep the NA’s seat, which his father late GAK held for over three decades, and nominate his wife but this option carries risk, or agree to field YAK, the only hope left for “introvert” Tareensto retain the seat that the family held since 1985 with little intervals,” said a close family friend of Tareens.

Yousuf Ayub, whose two younger brothers Arshad Ayub and Akbar Ayub are PTI’s MPAs from Haripur, made his debut in the practical politics in 1988 winning the election for provincial assembly as an independent candidate. He served as the provincial minister in the Aftab Khan Sherpao’s government twice and later in the Mehtab Ahmed Khan-led PML-N’s government from 1997 to October 2012. His most recent status was as the minister for C&W in Pervez Khatak’s cabinet after winning election on the PTI’s ticket. However, he was disqualified by the Election Tribunal in 2014.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2025