Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, a prominent leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) and former senator, has passed away at the age of 84 in Peshawar.

His brother, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, confirmed that Ilyas had been battling kidney disease and had received treatment in a local hospital for several months before his death, which occurred at 4am.

The ANP announced his passing on social media, noting that Ilyas was the brother of Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and the late Shaheed Bashir Ahmed Bilour, as well as the father of former senator Ghazanfar Bilour.

His funeral is scheduled for Sunday at 2pm in Peshawar’s Wazir Bagh, where he will be laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard.

Ilyas Ahmed Bilour served in the upper house of parliament from 2012 to 2018 and was a longstanding member of the ANP.

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He had stepped back from active politics after his son joined the rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Throughout his political career, Bilour held various key positions, including vice president of the Standing Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on Sustainable Development, Finance, and Trade for the Asia Pacific region.

He was also a businessman, having served as chairman of the Pak-Asia Business Council and president of the Indo-Pak Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In response to the news of his passing, former President Asif Ali Zardari and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed their condolences, acknowledging Bilour’s significant contributions to politics and society.