Firdous Ashiq Awan joins PTI

ISLAMABAD: Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, former Minister of Information and Broadcasting and a prominent PPP leader, has decided to join Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

She announced that she’s be joining PTI on Tuesday. She will represent the party from her constituency NA-111 which is next to that of the Defence Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (N) leader Khawaja Asif as both belong from Sialkot.

Firdous Ashiq met PTI’s Umar Dar, Khawaja Asif competitor in NA-110, and agreed to leave PPP, according to reports. She has expressed full confidence in the leadership of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Earlier this month, PTI managed to grab another PML-N leader Chaudhry Akhlaq who used to be a close aide of Khawaja Asif in the same city.

The newly-made PTI leader will announce her formal entry into the party upon meeting Imran Khan. While talking to the media, she said she’d accept any decision made by the party leadership about ticket distribution.

Umar Dar believes that the inclusion of former PPP leader and state minister would further strengthen PTI in Sialkot.

She got elected as Member of the National assembly for the first time in 2002 on the platform of PML-Q. She later left the party by resigning from the seat of National Assembly and went into re-election from Pakistan Peoples Party ticket and got re-elected in 2008.

When PPP came into power the appointed her as Federal Minister for National Regulation and Services. She had given her resignation to then Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gillani on 25 December 2011 during a  Special Federal Cabinet Meeting because she thought “party leaders are continuously ignoring her.” It was later declined by the Prime Minister after holding a one-to-one meeting with Awan.

April 18, 2012 Qamar Zaman Qaira was appointed as the new Minister of Information and Broadcasting, while former Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan was reassigned the Ministry of National Regulations and Services.