Born on September 1, 1949, Akbar had been suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. However, the cause of his death was reported to be cardiac arrest. He is survived by a son, Abdul Akbar, and a daughter, Malaika Akbar, and was laid to rest in his ancestral village Spenaki in district Mardan.
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Senior PPP leaders – including PPP’s K-P President Humayun Khan, Senator Khanzada Khan, Mardan’s Nazim Himayat Ullah Mayar – and thousands of party workers participated in his last rituals.
A member of the PPP’s central executive committee, Akbar belonged to a small village Speenkai, Palodheri of Mardan.
Akbar entered active politics in 1970 and was elected MPA five times in 1988, 1990, 1993, 2002, and 2008 on PPP ticket. He lost his seat for the first time in 2013 general elections.
After the 1988 general elections, Akbar Khan was appointed K-P Assembly’s deputy speaker. He was inducted as the provincial assembly’s speaker after the 1993 polls. He also served as PPP parliamentary leader in the K-P Assembly from 2002 to 2013.
When General Ziaul Haq dissolved assemblies after imposing Martial Law on July 5, 1977, Abdul Akbar Khan, being a close associate of the PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was also put behind bars. But his loyalty with the party could never be shaken.
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The PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari expressed deep sorrow over his demise. In a press release issued on Thursday, Zardari called Akbar ‘a true democratic leader’.
The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto also eulogised his sacrifices and services for the PPP. “The leadership and workers of the party will remember him for his loyalty and struggle,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2017.
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