Lala Nisar; the elder statesman

Prominent politician from Charsadda died of a heart attack on Tuesday

SHABQADAR: Lala Nisar Muhammad Khan, a politician from Charsadda, passed away on Tuesday after he suffered a heart attack.

During his illustrious political career, he held several important positions, including that of federal railways minister in Muhammad Khan Junejo’s government. He was also a federal minister for housing in the 2008 caretaker set-up ahead of elections that year.

However, Lala’s career was not without controversy as he was even jailed, along with Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, on charges of murdering Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao.

In his last interview with The Express Tribune in January 2016, Lala said his father Yar Muhammad Khan was a prominent Khan of Charsadda and an elder in his tribe of Parech Khel. He added his father was a member of the Khudai Khidmatgar and was jailed, along with Bacha Khan, by Ayub Khan under the martial law administration.

He remembered their land being auctioned off by the government and they later repossessed it at another auction. Lala said he studied at Lawrence College in Murree and graduated from the United Kingdom.

He returned home and contested his first elections in 1966 and was elected as an MP of the West Pakistan Assembly.

Joining PPP

When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto founded Pakistan Peoples Party, Lala was present as one of the founding members. He was so inspired by the to-be-prime minister’s speech against Ayub Khan on the Tashkent Declaration that he joined the party. Lala said Hayat Khan Sherpao joined PPP on his request.

He later parted ways with the party due to Bhutto’s attitude. He later formed the Zamindar Tehreek against PPP’s policies towards landlords by highlighting the rights of farmers.

During this time, he grew closer to the Wali Khan family and when Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao, who was a former governor by then, was assassinated at University of Peshawar, Lala was put behind bars for the killing from February 1975 to July 1977.

Asfandyar was among those who joined him in prison on the same charge. Both were released after General Ziaul Haq deposed the PPP government in a military coup. Lala refused to issue a false statement implicating Wali Khan in the murder, Begum Nasim Wali Khan told The Express Tribune.

However, as time progressed, he grew further apart from Wali Khan and his supporters. Lala was part of the coalition against the NAP in 1971, 1988 and 1990. However, he never contested an election against Wali Khan in a head-to-head competition.

A Junejo man

After Lala won the 1985 elections for a National Assembly seat, he was made the adviser for health and later railways. He remained loyal to Junejo till the latter’s death.

He then joined Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and was elected as a senator from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and appointed the chairperson of the Peshawar Division of the Khidmat Committee. He claimed to support Nawaz when General (retd) Pervez Musharraf overthrew the PML-N government – again in a military coup. Lala went on to join the PML-Likeminded group with Saleem Saifullah and later the PML-Q.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2016.