Awami National Party (ANP) provincial leader Samar Haroon Bilour has officially joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) following a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The meeting held at the Prime Minister House was attended by senior PML-N leaders including Federal Minister Engineer Amir Muqam, Zahid Khan, Sardar Yousaf, and Murtaza Javed Abbasi.
Prime Minister Shehbaz welcomed Samar Bilour to the party, asserting that her inclusion would bolster the PML-N's standing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Samar Haroon while speaking after the meeting, lauded PM Shehbaz's “people-friendly budget” and said the country’s economy is moving in the right direction.
“I want Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to also move on the path of development like the Federation and Punjab,” she said, adding that she is determined to work with the Prime Minister and party leadership to serve the people of her province.
Speaking to the media, PML-N leader Zahid Khan confirmed that the party had offered Samar Bilour a reserved seat in the National Assembly.
“She will be elected as a Member of the National Assembly on a reserved seat,” he said. Samar Bilour herself has confirmed the decision.
Engineer Amir Muqam also confirmed her formal joining, saying, “Samar Bilour has joined our party.”
Samar Bilour, who previously served as the provincial information secretary of the ANP, hails from a family deeply entrenched in Peshawar’s political landscape.
She is the widow of Haroon Bilour, a prominent ANP leader who was killed in a suicide blast during an election rally in Peshawar on July 10, 2018. She is also the daughter-in-law of Bashir Ahmed Bilour, another senior ANP minister who was killed in a similar attack in 2012.
Following her husband’s assassination, Samar Bilour entered politics and was elected as a Member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly (MPA) from PK-83 Peshawar on an ANP ticket.
In the February 8, 2024 general elections, she again contested from the same constituency but was defeated by PTI’s Meena Khan Afridi.
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