Ajmal khatak

Ajmal Khattak

Ajmal Khattak (Pashto: اجمل خټک)(Urdu: اجمل خٹک) (born 15 September 1925, died 7 February 2010) was a Pakistani politician, writer, Pashtun poet, Khudai Khidmatgar, former President of Awami National Party and close friend of the late Khan Wali Khan.

His early student life was marked by active protesting against the British Raj, this was followed by his joining of the Khudai khidmatgar movement and anti-colonial Pashto poetry. Following the partition of India in 1947 he joined the National Awami Party and became a close friend of Abdul Wali Khan.

He served as secretay general of the National Awami Party from 1969-1973. He was defeated by Maulana Abdul Haq in the 1970 general election, however following a crackdown against the Party by the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Ajmal Khattak fled into exile to Kabul. He returned in 1986 and was elected in 1990 to Pakistan's National Assembly, he was then elected President of the Awami National Party following the retirement of Wali Khan.Following a power struggle in 2000, he briefly formed a breakaway party which was routed in the 2002 election. He rejoined the Awami National Party shortly afterwards and retired from active politics.

A committed Marxist-Leninist he was the author of many books in Pashto and had written 13 books in Pushto and Urdu including a History of Pushto Literature (in Urdu) 'Pakistan Main Qaumi Jamhoori Tehrikin, Da Ghirat Chagha, Batoor, Gul auo Perhar, Guloona auo Takaloona, Jalawatan ki Shairee, Pukhtana Shora and Da Wakht Chagha. In 2006, the Torlandi Pukhto Adabi Tolana, Swabi, conferred on Ajmal Khattak the title of Baba-i-Nazam at a big public mushaira.

His work has been the subject of renewed interest by the South Asian Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania, which has translated his works into English.

However, in November 2006, when the government informed him that he was in line for the lucrative award of Sitara-i-Imtiaz, he refused it with a polite note. He was also awarded the Kamal-e-Funn Award 2007 by the Pakistan Academy of Letters

Ajmal Khattak, who had been ill since last year, died at a local hospital in Peshawar on Sunday, February 7, 2010. He was 85. He had left politics since long and had been residing at his native village, in Akora Khattak. He was laid to rest a day after his death.