Senator Babar Awan. PHOTO: FILE
A series of recent correspondences between the two on different political, legal and personal matters lends credence to this development.
As a practicing lawyer, Awan has also started overseeing almost all legal affairs of the PTI, including private matters of the party chairman quite like his past ventures with the PPP.
Awan is also considering quitting the upper house of parliament, according to people close to the senator.
One ought to ask this question: has Imran Khan replaced Asif Ali Zardari by building camaraderie with the one who had a ubiquitous presence in the PPP circles?
Awan is representing Imran in a defamation case filed by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, incidentally his own arch-nemesis, for under his judgeship he had lost his practicing licence. He also accompanied the PTI leader during his key meeting with the chief election commissioner (CEC) this week related to election affairs.
Frequent visitors to Awan also observed that the senator has reduced the number of Bhutto family memoirs and portraits from his drawing room and now one can hardly find Benazir’s portrait there.
Awan has also taken back a house he had gifted to PPP to serve as People’s Secretariat in F-8, a posh sector of the capital city. The former law minister was among a few of former president Asif Zardari’s kitchen-cabinet members.
Awan won the Senate election unopposed in 2006. He was re-elected to the upper house again in March 2012, but was removed from all senior party posts when he did not appear before a bench of the apex court as a witness in a contempt of court case against then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the NRO case against Asif Zardari. Awan first came to the limelight in the 1990s when the second Benazir government was ousted and several leading PPP figures were implicated in corruption cases.
Subsequently, he started appearing on behalf of Benazir and Zardari in different courts. A ‘loyal’ PPP activist Awan used to be Benazir’s speech writer and her negotiating link while she was in exile. She once dubbed Awan her younger brother. In 2004, Benazir appointed him as the finance secretary of the party. Besides a member of CEC, Awan was former vice-president of the party.
He was an activist throughout his academic life. Initially, he was affiliated with Islami Jamiat Talba during his student life and Pakistan Muslim League under the Zia regime.
He joined the PPP in 1996. It was a tough time for the PPP and many lawyers refrained from having any contact with the indicted politicians during Nawaz Shairf’s tenure followed by Gen Musharraf coup détente. Awan was the best choice for these indicted politicians. He assumed his post as a federal law minister in November 2008 from which he resigned in April 2011 in order to appear before the court in the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference.
Awan has proved to be a bitter rival of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and has often expressed his views against ‘Sharif brothers’ in public speeches. He was also harsh towards Imran Khan during several talk shows.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2015.
COMMENTS (24)
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Now all that we need is for Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to join PTI too. I had once suggested that Fatima Bhutto join PTI and was scoffed at. Fatima, if you read this...
Now, the question is whether Babar Awan is rightist or has leftist lining. because PTI is rightist party. I can see person from PMLN going to PTI or from PPP to ANP. Amazing
PTI should welcome him in the party. Party needs not only loyalists but a team which can perform.
@ny: you don't know ABC about this man.A shameless character.He call himself as Doctor,His doctorate degree is fake.He along with his brother dish out millions of rupees to legal fraternity in the country with half in their pocket.How he blackmailed Amin fahim of PPP,not to contest for PM ship?
Babar Awan was not loyalist to anyone but himself, As shown that he left three parties throughout his career span. Moreover, as he is a lawyer so we can only expect him to be loyal to himself and no one else, with occasional alliances with his clients.
Awan is a very honest person....The only dislike I had for him was his canvasing for the most corrupt (in any shape or form) people of Pakistan.
I believe he realized that in the end and thats why is staying away from PPP (not that he does not deal with corrupt people as PAKISTAN is full of them).
May Allah Bless wisdom to all.
A lota is a guy who is elected on one party ticket and joins another! By this standard no body should change party in their lifetime. Seems like he is convinced by his son, he is good with media, an area where PTI seriously lacks talent! Welcome!
These politician are just like Litters of papers swirling in the winds, just as you see in the streets of Pakistan. I thought PTI was there to clean all these dirty mess.
Whereas the write wants to play it against Babar Awan and IK but nothing in the whole article suggests to me that he is a corrupt person. he is one of the highest paid lawyer of the SC and if a woman as competent as BB can trust someone to be her speech write or chief negotiator, he got to have some talent. People who think IK should bring someone from Mars to join PTI should naturally feel disappointed. But I still agree, if some one is involved in financial corruption or nepotism in the past, he must never be inducted in the party but if you judge people by the loyalty to the previous parties only then you will never be able to do anything as every person with any sort of political background would have remained a part of some political party or other
Interesting that in the past PTI leaders have written so much against him and now he will become holier than thou person.
Coup détente??? ET you seem to have no grasp of the language. The correct words should be coup d'etat.
just an alliance of thugs!
Another wrong number!
There are many corruption cases against Babir Awan in NAB.it is just a matter of time when NAB is going public
A small group of 'cynics' believed that PTI has been hijacked by the establishment when a group of Musharaf loyalists started to join PTI in Pasha's last days. Now more and more people have started to believe us.
IK will use the same approach. If some one is in other political party he is corrupt. When he joins PTI, he was never corrupt.
@Ahmed: He is more politically savvy and sharp compared to that loser Hamid Khan. Khan walked off Dr. Danish's TV show when facing tough questioning 'on why he could not be compared with Javed Hashmi". IK is better off with Awan if he wants to win his case against the wide-eyed Judge and the rest of his ilk.
Babar Awan is one of the few phenomenal lawyers we have in this country. Since he has no past corruption scandals in his portfolio, I'll be really happy if he joins PTI.
What if he does not become part of pti. Will ET apologize for declaring something which had not even happened? This had happened many times in the past where they have already commented on something that had not even happened and it never happened but all the blame game was already done.
Both Imran and Awan would be foolish to compromise their positions. Awan should be strictly confined to his professional duty. More than that ; history may repeat.
what a shame, this corrupt and do number lawyer is now representing IK.
From Hamid khan to Baber Awan the downward spiral of IK is writing on the wall.
This PPP`s loyalist won't be proved loyal loyal to anyone, these are only power-hungry people.
FYI: It's not "died" in the wool, it's dyed lol
It seems like PTI is becoming a party of lotas. I wish Imran Khan has some sense to choose among these lotas rather than accepting lota like Dr. Babar Awan.