Zahid Khan leaves ANP to join PML-N, shifting allegiance to Nawaz Sharif

PESHAWAR: Former Awami National Party (ANP) spokesperson and senior politician Zahid Khan has decided to leave the party to join the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) led by Nawaz Sharif, here on Saturday.

According to the details, Zahid Khan will formally announce his joining the Muslim League-N in a press conference on Sunday along with Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Engineer Amir Muqam.

Zahid Khan has been a senator twice from 1997 to 2003 and again from 2009 to 2015. Apart from serving as a member of the Senate Committees on Communications, Information Technology and Telecommunications and Parliamentary Affairs, he also chaired the Senate Committee on Water and Power.

Earlier in September, Zahid Khan had announced his retirement from politics saying that the circumstances made it difficult for him to pursue a career in politics.

He said that money has invaded politics, and he never entered politics to benefit from it. Zahid Khan had said that he wanted to distance himself from day-to-day politics as he had been left out of the party leadership’s agenda.

It is noteworthy that earlier ANP’s central leader Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour had also announced to quit electoral politics.

The veteran politician, who was defeated in the last three elections from Peshawar, gave up politics and decided to move to Islamabad.

The former railway minister further said that his brother Bashir Bilour and nephew Haroon Bilour were martyred, and he found no reason to stay in Peshawar as he was no longer interested in politics.

“I was declared a loser in four elections, which I won. My brother, son and a nephew were martyred by militants,” he said. “Now I am thinking of shifting to Islamabad.”