ANP Nationalist leader death anniversary passes silently.

MARDAN -- The seventh death anniversary of nationalist leader Mohammad Azam Khan Hoti passed away silently.

As no programme was arranged to remember the late nationalist leader and to paid rich tribute to his struggle for the rights of Pakhtuns. It may be noted that Senior Pakhtun nationalist and former federal minister Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Hoti who passed away on 13th April 2017 after protracted illness at the age of 69. Azam Khan Hoti was born on April 27, 1946 in a respectable and renowned political family of Mardan. His father Amir Muhammad Khan was also a member of the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement founded by freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) and had spent several years behind bars due to his political activities.

Azam Hoti received his early education in Risalpur and later studied at the Aitchison College Lahore. He graduated from the Government Degree College Nowshera. After his graduation, Azam Hoti joined the Pakistan Army and was commissioned in 1967. He became a captain in the Armored Corps of the Pakistan Army. He also took part in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. However, he later resigned from the army and joined politics. In 1972, he joined the National Awami Party(NAP). When NAP was banned by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he joined the National Democratic Party (NDP) and later the Awami National Party (ANP).He subsequently went into exile and spent several years in Afghanistan. He was a member of the ANP's central and provincial executive committees and also led the Nangialai Pakhtun, the ANP's youth wing, for years.

However, in 2005 he quit this office. Azam Hoti was twice elected as an MNA from Mardan in 1990 and 1997 on the ANP ticket from different constituencies. He was twice made the federal minister for communication in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government in 1991 and 1997. In March 1994, he was elected as a member of the Senate of Pakistan. He remained a member of various Standing Committees of the Senate. He had...