In memory: Hayat Sherpao’s death anniversary to be observed

Public gathering will be held at Sherpao village, Charsadda.

PESHAWAR: The 40th death anniversary of former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governor Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao will be observed on Sunday (today).

Hayat’s younger brother and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao will address a public gathering at Sherpao village in Charsadda at 2pm The gathering will be attended by various party leaders and activists.

Every year, a public gathering is arranged on the former governor’s death anniversary. Since 2012, the annual gathering has been held under the auspices of QWP.

The late governor was one of the founding leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which was established by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1967. Hayat was appointed as the provincial governor when Bhutto seized the reins in 1971.

During the 1970s, when the rule of the erstwhile NWFP fell to a tripartite coalition government comprising the JUI-F, PPP and National Awami Party (NAP), the precursor to the present day ANP, Hayat served as federal minister. He was later appointed as provincial interior minister.

He died in a bomb explosion at the University of Peshawar on February 8, 1975.

His demise fuelled tension between PPP and NAP when the latter was blamed for the former governor’s assassination. These hostilities have continued to affect relations between both parties to this date.

Some years after his brother’s death, Aftab formed the QWP to carry forward the latter’s political legacy.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2015.