Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat formally joins PML-N

JHANG, Dec 27 (SABAH): Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has joined Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), party’s President Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif announced on Wednesday.

Shehbaz Sharif made this announcement while talking to media persons on Wednesday. Faisal Saleh Hayat remained PPP MNA several times from 1977 to 2002.

Earlier, Shehbaz Sharif along with PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah Khan, Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan and other PML-N leaders paid a visit to Jhang and met former PPP lawmaker Faisal Saleh Hayat. He invited Hayat to join the PML-N. The invitation was accepted by senior political leader. Younger Sharif was also expected to visit and pay homage at the shrine of Shah Jewna, the venerated sufi ancestor of the Makhdoom.

“We are confident that Faisal Saleh Hayat’s induction will strengthen the PML-N, especially in Jhang and Chiniot, but also in other constituencies, where he has influence,” Shehbaz Sharif said as he welcomed the latest inductee into his party. Shehbaz Sharif said that we sincerely want to serve the country.

He said that Hayat’s presence in the party will bolster Nawaz Sharif’s leadership. “Nawaz will, God willing, become the prime minister for the fourth term. He is not just a politician but also a statesman.” Shehbaz Sharif said that we will work hard under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif and will make Pakistan great.

Hayat, a former PPP and PML-Q member, had given clear indication last week that he was about to switch sides again. On Friday, when he reached in a big procession of his supporters to the office of returning officer to file his nomination papers for NA-108 and PP-125, not a single PPP flag was carried by any of his supporters.

Hayat had first quit the PPP during the Musharraf regime and later joined the PML-Q. He rejoined the PPP in 2017.

In the 2018 general election, he was the PPP candidate but lost the election to PTI’s Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan by just 600 votes in the recount. The PML-N could not field any candidate in his constituency in the last election.

It may be recalled that Faisal became an MNA in 1977 on a PPP ticket. He was elected again in the 1988 elections after General Ziaul Haq’s martial law and remained loyal to the PPP till 2002 when he joined the PML-Q, fabricated by General Parvez Musharraf. He rejoined the PPP in 2017 but was defeated in the 2018 general elections.

He served as a member of Central Executive Committee of the PPP in 1979. In 2002, he was elected MNA on a PPP ticket, later forming PPP-Patriots and then joining the “king’s party.” He served as federal minister in various ministries, including commerce (1988–90), environment; housing and works; interior (2002–04), and Kashmir affairs.

At present, he is serving as the president of the Pakistan Football Federation.