Begum Nasim Wali Khan denied ticket for Senate polls

PESHAWAR: Begum Nasim Wali Khan did not get the Awami National Party (ANP) ticket for contesting the forthcoming election to the Senate due to her old age and illness.


ANP has finalized the list of candidates to be sent to Election Commission of Pakistan.

For general seats, ANP has fielded Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Shahi Said, and Baz Mohammad Khan, whereas, Ilyas Bilour has been named for the technocrat seat.

For women’s seat the ANP leadership has nominated Zahida Khan, who comes from Upper Dir.

ANP's Amarjeet Mahhotra has been fielded for the minorities’ seat in the Senate.

Begum Nasim Wali Khan, on the other hand, has expressed her indifference over ANP’s not giving her a party ticket.

Nasim said she had been inactive for sometime but she was definitely not a rebel, adding whether she got the ticket or not made no difference to her.

She had put the ANP leadership in a difficult situation by applying for the ruling party’s ticket. It was learnt that the party leaders, particularly the parliamentary board headed by Senator Afrasiab Khattak, held consultations on the issue, as refusing a ticket to the veteran politician and widow of the revered ANP leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan was not an easy decision.

An ANP leader, requesting anonymity, said at least three female candidates had applied for the ANP ticket to contest the Senate election. “Apart from Begum Nasim Wali, Maimoona Hashim, the daughter of senior party leader Hashim Babar, was also a candidate.

Many observers noted that ANP central President Asfandyar Wali Khan, who is her stepson, met her on the stage but didn’t mention her name in his speech.

Begum Nasim Wali has been in the political wilderness for the past several years. She is no longer active in politics and isn’t invited to ANP meetings. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was one of the most powerful leaders of the party. As the provincial president of the party in its stronghold, NWFP now renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, she called the shots and tolerated no indiscipline. However, Asfandyar Wali and the new generation of ANP leaders gradually sidelined her and made her a non-entity in party affairs.

The death of her husband and later of her son, Sangeen Wali Khan, made her lonely and affected her health. She is now old, aged more than 70 years and approaching 80, and is suffering from asthma.