Samar Haroon Bilour Quits ANP to Join PML-N, Dealing Blow to Her Former Party

Awami National Party (ANP) provincial leader Samar Haroon Bilour has officially joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after meeting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The meeting, held at the Prime Minister House, was also attended by senior PML-N figures including Federal Minister Engineer Amir Muqam, Zahid Khan, Sardar Yousaf, and Murtaza Javed Abbasi.

Welcoming Samar Bilour into the party, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said her decision to join would strengthen the PML-N’s position in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

After the meeting, Samar Bilour praised the prime minister’s “people-friendly budget,” adding that Pakistan’s economy was now moving in a positive direction.
“I want Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to progress alongside the Federation and Punjab,” she said. “I am committed to working with the prime minister and party leadership to serve the people of my province.”

Speaking to reporters, PML-N leader Zahid Khan revealed that Samar Bilour has been offered a reserved seat in the National Assembly. “She will become an MNA on a reserved seat,” he confirmed. Samar Bilour also endorsed the announcement herself.

Engineer Amir Muqam also confirmed her induction, stating: “Samar Bilour has formally joined our party.”

Samar Bilour, who was previously the provincial information secretary for the ANP, comes from one of Peshawar’s most prominent political families. She is the widow of Haroon Bilour, a senior ANP leader who lost his life in a suicide bombing during an election rally in Peshawar on July 10, 2018. She is also the daughter-in-law of Bashir Ahmed Bilour, another senior ANP figure who was killed in a similar attack in 2012.

Following her husband’s tragic death, Samar Bilour stepped into politics and was elected as a Member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly (MPA) from PK-83 Peshawar on an ANP ticket. She contested again from the same constituency in the February 8, 2024 general elections but lost to PTI’s Meena Khan Afridi.

Source: Web Desk