The party of Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan today said it would lead a coalition government in the terror-hit northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Northwestern Pakistan is on the frontline of a nearly seven-year domestic Taliban insurgency and suffers near daily bomb and shooting attacks blamed on militants.
Khan has called for an end to military operations and peace talks with the Taliban, making his party's victory in the northwest a significant development.
Pervez Khattak, secretary general of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been nominated as the provincial chief minister, his party said.
"We will form a coalition government with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP)," Khattak told a press conference in Peshawar city today.
Khan's PTI emerged as the largest party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by securing 35 seats in the 99-member provincial assembly. JI and QWP secured seven seats each.
"Our province was badly suffered due to terrorism and we need unified efforts to bring peace," said Khattak, a veteran politician in his 60s who was won a seat in the provincial assembly five times.
The Taliban, who denounce democracy as un-Islamic, killed more than 150 people during the election campaign, including 24 on polling day last weekend.
Pakistani troops have been fighting for years against homegrown insurgents in the tribal belt, which Washington considers the main hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.
