GUJRAT, Aug 22: Malik Hanif Awan, a former MPA and district president of the PML-N, is likely to join hands with the Chaudhrys after the completion of the local polls. Sources close to Hanif Awan told Dawn that a formal announcement to join the ruling party is expected in between Aug 25 and 30.
They said all this happened when the Serai Alamgir police registered an abduction case against a former Khohar union council nazim, Raja Nadeem Nawaz, and his five family members.
Raja Nadeem has been contesting the election on the PML-N ticket and is considered to be a close aide of Malik Hanif.
The police arrested four of the accused, including Raja Nadeem’s father Nawaz and brother Naeem, and sent them to jail. They also conducted raids to arrest Raja Nadeem, but failed to arrest him. Later, he was granted an interim bail by the LHC till Aug 20.
The sources said Raja Nadeem was the first man who insisted Hanif Awan to quit the PML-N and join the ruling party.
The second persuader is Chaudhry Gulzar who is also a friend of Hanif Awan and has been elected unopposed Thil Bakol UC nazim.
Gulzar is a nominated accused in the murder case of former law minister Chaudhry Farooq. He along with other accused had patched up with the family of Mr Farooq and the rival Aziz group owing to the efforts by MNA Chaudhry Wajahat Husain some months ago.
Hanif Awan was also picked up in the Farooq murder case by the police, but freed when no evidence was found against him.
In 2001 elections, he had nominated Raja Masood Sarwar for the slot of tehsil nazim, but he lost the election. Chaudhry Abdur Rahman, an uncle of Chaudhry Farooq, was elected tehsil nazim.
Raja Masood was also a nominated accused in the Farooq murder case. He was awarded life term by a sessions judge, but the LHC set aside the decision and he was released some months ago.
The sources claimed that Raja Nadeem and Chaudhry Gulzar had persuaded Hanif Awan to quit the Sharif family and join the PML.
They also claimed that following a deal with the Chaudhrys, Hanif Awan had agreed to join the ruling party.
He is likely to contest the election for the slot of the Serai tehsil nazim, and wanted to muster the support of Chaudhrys.
Malik Hanif Awan was not available for comments.