Muhammed Afzal Khan Lala also known as Afzal Khan Lala (b.1926- ) is a Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 nationalist, former Pakistani provincial and Federal minister from the Swat valley in the North-West Frontier Province

North-West Frontier Province

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province and various other names, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the north-west of the country...

.

Hailing from the Bara Drushkhela village of Matta

Matta

Matta may refer to:*Mata, a moshav in Israel also spelt Matta*Matta - a Union Council of Kasur District, Pakistan.*Matta, a city in Swat, NWFP Pakistan, the main centre of TNSM*Matta, a chief of Siwistan in the 7th century A.D....

 and a senior member of the Awami National Party

Awami National Party

The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International...

, he has survived several assassination attempts allegedly by the supporters of Maulana Fazlullah

Maulana Fazlullah

Maulana Fazlullah, nicknamed the "Radio Mullah" or "Mullah Radio", is the leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi , a banned Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, that aims to enforce Sharia in the country...

.

Political career

Afzal Khan began his political career affiliated with National Awami Party (NAP) in opposing the rule of the Wali of Swat

Wāli of Swat

The Wāli of Swat was the leader of the erstwhile State of Swat. The post disappeared in 1969 when this state was incorporated into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.They were well known for building a lot of schools and hospitals in their state....

. Formally joining the party in 1969 after Swat's merger into NWFP, he was elected member of provincial assembly in Pakistan's 1970, first ever national election. A close confidante of Abdul Wali Khan he was one of three National Awami Party

National Awami Party

The National Awami Party was a leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded in Dhaka in erstwhile East Pakistan in July 1957 through the merger of several leftist and progressive groups. It advocated provincial autonomy, rights on the basis of ethnicity, recognition of ethinicities...

 provincial ministers appointed in the short-lived coalition government of Mufti Mehmud. In 1975, he was arrested by the government as part of general crackdown against the opposition and was charged as part of the Hyderabad tribunal

Hyderabad tribunal

The Hyderabad tribunal , also known as Hyderabad conspiracy case, is the name of a former judicial tribunal used in Pakistan to prosecute opposition politicians of the National Awami Party on the charges of treason and acting against the ideology of Pakistan.The tribunal was set up on the orders of...

. Released in 1978, he was elected provincial president of the Awami National Party

Awami National Party

The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International...

, however in 1990 he along with senior party leaders formed a breakaway party called the Pakhtunkhwa Qaumi Party (PQP), in protest against the Awami National Party's decision to form an alliance with the conservative Islami Jamhoori Ittehad

Islami Jamhoori Ittehad

Islami Jamhoori Ittehad or Islamic Democratic Alliance was formed in September 1988 to oppose the Pakistan Peoples Party in elections that year...

. Allying his group to the Pakistan Peoples Party

Pakistan Peoples Party

The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...

, Afzal Khan was elected to the National Assembly in the 1993 elections. Serving as Federal Minister for the Northern areas and Kashmir from 1993 to 1996, he withdrew from electoral politics after 1997. He then allied himself with the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement

Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement

The Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement is an alliance of several ethnic nationalist parties in Pakistan: Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, Sindhi Awami Tehreek, Balochistan National Movement, Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Seraiki Movement, etc....

 (PONM), advocating full provincial autonomy for the various ethnicities of Pakistan. In 2005 he rejoined the Awami National Party.

Opposition to Taliban

One of the few opponents, not in exile or dead, of the Taliban in the region, he has been guarded by relatives and members of the Awami National Party

Awami National Party

The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International...

.

In a recent interview he said from his house in the Durushkhela area of Swat

Swat

SWAT is the special-weapons-and-tactics unit of a law-enforcement agency. Swat or SWAT may also refer to:In media:* SWAT , a video games series spin-off of Police Quest...

 that he refuses to leave the area to Taliban: "I shall die but will not leave the ground to militants".

Recognition by Pakistan government

As acknowledgement for his bravery in the face of terrorism, he was awarded by the President of Pakistan, the highest civilian award for bravery the Hilal-i-Shujaat in 2009.