Apprentice to Power

Khizr stood for the Khushab constituency in the provincial elections held early in 1937. Umar did most of what passed for electioneering, calling on the landed families of Tiwanas and Noons for their support. Together, they owned 85,000 acres of land in the Khushab tehsil. Awans, however, formed the majority of the 20,000 voters. Their opportunity to flex their electoral muscle was scuppered when Khizr paid their leading representative Rs 10,000 to withdraw too late in the day for a substitute to file his nomination papers ¹ by the 23 November deadline. By this means he was thus elected unopposed to the Assembly.