Asfandyar Wali Khan

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Asfandyar Wali Khan اسفند یار ولی خان
Asfandyar Wali Khan
President Awami National Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 
1999
Preceded by Ajmal Khattak
Preceded by Wali Khan
Born 19 february 1949
Charsadda, North-West Frontier Province
Political party Awami National Party
Residence Walibagh, Charsadda, North-West Frontier Province
Religion Islam

Asfandyar Wali Khan (also spelled Asfandiyar Wali Khan) (Urdu: اسفند یار ولی خان ) (b. 19 February 1949)is the President of the Awami National Party in Pakistan. A Pakhtun nationalist he is an opponent of the Taliban and proponent of provincial rights in Pakistan.

His father, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, was the party’s first President. He is the grandson of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, better known as "Badshah Khan ["King of Khans". Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was the founder of the non-violent Pashtun political movement, Khudai Khidmatgar ("Servants of God") in undivided India and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Asfandyars uncle Dr. Khan Sahib was the Chief Minister of the Northwest Frontier Province during the waning days of the British Raj and also the Chief Minister of the province during the early days of independent Pakistan. Asfandyar is the present President of the Awami National Party and has served as Member of Provincial Assembly, Member of National Assembly and presently Senator in Pakistan's Parliament.

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[edit] Personal background

Asfandyar Wali Khan was born in Charsadda, a small village outside of Peshawar, Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan. He is the eldest son of Khan Abdul Wali Khan and his first wife Taj Bibi. After the death of his mother in February 1949 his father remarried Nasim Wali Khan in 1954. Sangeen Wali Khan is his step-brother and eldest son of Nasim Wali Khan.

[edit] Education

Asfandyar Wali Khan completed his early education from Aitchison College, Lahore and his BA from University of Peshawar.[1].

[edit] Political Career

Asfandyar Wali Khan joined the opposition to Ayub Khan as a student activist. In 1975, he was imprisoned and tortured[2] by the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and convicted as part of the Hyderabad tribunal for 15 years.[3] Released in 1978, he stayed away from electoral politics till 1990.

Asfandyar Wali Khan served as leader of the Pakhtun Student Federation prior to being elected to the provincial Assembly in the 1990 election, while in the 1993 election he was elected to Pakistan's National Assembly. A seat to which he was re-elected to in the 1997 election. In 1999, he was elected party president. He was defeated in the 2002 election, in what was a repeat of his fathers defeat in 1990, when tactical alliance was formed by all the anti-ANP groups against him. After his defeat he resigned as President of his party, only to be re-elected unopposed in the subsequent party election. In 2003 he was elected to the Senate as Senator for a 6 year term. He was re-elected to the National Assembly in the parliamentary elections that was held on February 2008, leading his party to power both provincially and nationally, the former for the first time since 1947 and the latter since 1997. [4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Awami National Party website
  2. ^ Hayat Sherpao Khan the murderRetrieved March 28 2008
  3. ^ Cowasjee, Ardeshir (21 June 1997) Murtaza's murder. The Dawn. The DAWN Group. Available online at [1]. Also see Cowasjee (25 April 1996) Old Hat. The Dawn. The DAWN group [2]
  4. ^ Asfandyar facing opposition from family

[edit] External links

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