Veteran Pashtun nationalist leader and progressive writer and poet, well-known revolutionary Ajmal Khattak died in his hometown Akora Khattak at 85.

S. Mudassir Ali Shah (Pajhwok)
Renowned Pakhtun nationalist leader and distinguished poet Ajmal Khattak breathed his last after a protracted illness in an NWFP hospital, a Pakistani TV channel reported. He was 85.

A former NWFP minister, senator and Member of National Assembly (MNA), the veteran intellectual spent more than a decade and a half in self-imposed exile in Afghanistan.

A senior National Awami Party (NAP) figure, he was wanted by the Federal Security Force as part of a political witch-hunt launched by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government. As a result, he stayed in Kabul for 16 years.

His son told Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone that funeral prayers for Khattak, who remained bed-ridden for more than a year, would be offered in his ancestral village of Akora Khattak in Nowshera district on Monday.

Aimal Khattak said his father, born in Akora Khattak on September 15, 1925, would be laid to rest after Zuhr prayers. During his 50-year political career, he saw his literary pursuits and education take painful turns.

Profoundly influenced by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s philosophy of non-violence, Khattak was an energetic member of the Quit India Movement in 1942. In an effort to play a more proactive role in the struggle against the British Raj, he left school.

But he resumed studies later on and did his MA in Persian from the Peshawar University. He also served as editor of different newspapers and periodicals, including Anjam, Shahbaz, Adal and Rahber.

A minister in the cabinet of NWFP Chief Minister Mufti Mehmood in 1972, he was the stage secretary at a United Democratic Front (UDF) rally held at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on March 23 1973.

During the rally, gunshots were fired at the UDF leaders, including Khan Abdul Wali Khan. In the ensuing scuffle, several UDF and NAP workers were killed by the security personnel.

Writer Muhammad Hasan Haqyar, meanwhile, described Khattak’s passing as a tragedy for Pakhtuns living on both sides of the Durand Line. He believed the vacuum created by Khattak’s death would long be felt, particularly in literary and political circles.

Da Ghairat Chagha (Cry of Courage), Da Zhwand Chagha (Cry of Life), Zhwand Aw Khwand (Life and Joy), Guloona Aw Takaloona (Flowers and Quests), Afghan Nang (Afghan Bravery), Kachkol (Begging Bowl), Gul Aw Parhar (Flower and Wound) and Sre Ghunche (Red Bouquets) are some of his famous books.

Haqyar rated Da Ghairat Chagha as an excellent poetic collection that jolted Pakhtuns out of their deep political slumber and galvanised them into waging a determined struggle for their rights.

During his self-exile in Kabul, Khattak enjoyed cordial relations with People’s Democratic Party leaders, including President Nur Muhammad Taraki, Babrak Karmal and Dr. Mohammad Najibullah.

It was in 1989, when the Awami National Party (ANP) entered an electoral alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, that Khattak’s exile came to an end.

A year later, he was elected as Member of National Assembly (MNA) from Nowshera. In 993, Khattak lost his re-election bid but was nominated as an ANP senator in March 1994. Following a prolonged power struggle with Begum Nasim Wali Khan, Khattak was removed as ANP president in 2000.