KARAK, Dec 14: Former law minister Malik Zafar Azam said on Friday that he did not know why the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) had not awarded him a ticket for the provincial assembly election, even though he had been associated with the party for 24 long years.

He said that a few months back, the party had awarded him the pride of performance in recognition of his services during his tenure as a minister in the NWFP cabinet and the work he had done for the passage of the Hasba bill.

He added that since the party had now refused to give him a ticket, he would contest the election as an independent candidate.

Addressing a press conference, the former minister said that he was grateful to the Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao) for withdrawing its candidate Aurang Zaib advocate in his favour.

The former law minister asked all rival candidates to refrain from using more money than the Election Commission had authorised for campaigning purposes.