Cricketer Khalid Latif Enters Election Arena With TLP Ticket

TLP Chief Saad Rizvi contacts Khalid Latif and proposes him to contest elections against Hakeem Baloch of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in PS-89.

KARACHI: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Jan 17^th, 2024) Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif will contest the upcoming elections from PS-89 Malir Karachi on the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) ticket.

Khalid Latif played for the national team from 2008 to 2016, participating in five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 13 T20 matches.

However, he faced a 12-year sentence in absentia from a Dutch court for announcing bounty for a Dutch citizen over his blasphemous remarks, with the court's non-availability.

The latest reports suggest that TLP's head, Saad Rizvi, contacted Khalid Latif and proposed him to contest elections against Hakeem Baloch of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in PS-89.

Despite this offer, Khalid Latif accepted the ticket for PS-89 and is now competing against PPP's Saleem Baloch and PTI-supported Ashraf Samoon.

In this constituency, Jamaat-e-Islami has fielded Shoaib Haider for the seat. NA-231, previously won by PPP's Abdul Hakeem Baloch, who has secured victories three times in his political career, includes other provincial assembly seats, PS-84, PS-87, PS-88, and PS-89.

Khalid Latif expressed his commitment to his regular door-to-door campaign, expressing hope for a successful outcome.

TLP surprised many in Karachi by not only securing his MPA seat but also maintaining a significant presence in other Constituencies, leaving behind PPP in most areas.

So far, five former players who represented Pakistan at the national and international levels have been elected as Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) or Members of the National Assembly (MNAs). The first former player to become an MPA was Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistan's cricket team's first captain, who was elected on a PPP ticket from Lahore in the 1970 elections.

In the 1985 elections, former Olympian and hockey player Akhtar Rasool, who captained Pakistan's World Cup-winning team in 1982, was elected as an MPA from Lahore. In the same elections, former cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz also became an MPA from Lahore.

Akhtar Rasool won the next four general elections. Former Olympian Qasim Zia also became an MPA from Lahore on the PPP ticket in the 2002 elections. During the PTI's founding and former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan secured success from Lahore in 2018 for the first time, leading his party to form governments in the federation and Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.