Newly-elected FATA senator set to join PML-N

Afridi contested Senate elections as an independent candidate

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: Two days after the Senate elections, newly-elected Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is expected to join Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N).

Sources confirmed to The Express Tribune that Afridi, who contested the Senate elections as an independent candidate, met former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on Monday. During the meeting Afridi decided to join PML-N. An official announcement will be made soon, sources said.

While the move is an anticipated one, keeping in view that FATA senators tend to tilt towards the ruling party after elections, it is pertinent to note that parliamentarians from the PML-N had abstained from voting in Senate polls for FATA held on March 3.

Despite Afridi’s joining the ruling party, he will remain an independent senator unless he moves the Election Commission of Pakistan and it subsequently notifies him as a PML-N senator.

Afridi, an industrialist by profession, is the paternal nephew of former Senator and MNA Muhammad Shah Afridi and cousin of Javed Afridi, the owner of Peshawar Zalmi - a Pakistan Super League team.

As many as 25 candidates contested for the four Senate seats from Fata. The four candidates who won include Hidayatullah, Hilalur Rehman, Shamim Afridi and Mirza Mohammad Afridi. Where Hidayatullah and Hilalur Rehman were re-elected, Shamim Afridi and Afridi are newcomers.