[1] His early student life was marked by active protests against the British Raj, which was followed by his joining of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement and anti-colonial Pashto poetry.

He was defeated by Abdul Haq in the 1970 general election, however following a crackdown against the Party by the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Ajmal Khattak fled into exile to Kabul.

[1] He has had a long career in both the Indian Independence Movement against the British in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (then NWFP) of what was then undivided India as well as part of the National Awami Party (NAP) in its various incarnations in Pakistan.

After the resignation of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cabinet in protest at President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's dismissal of the Balochistan government led by Sardar Ataullah Mengal, Ajmal Khattak became the Secretary General of the National Awami Party.

Since Ajmal Khattak was a prominent figure in the National Awami Party, he was wanted by the Federal Security Force as part of the general crackdown on NAP.

During his years in Kabul, Ajmal Khattak was a close confidant of Badshah Khan, and also enjoyed excellent relations with leaders of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, including General Secretary Nur Muhammad Taraki, Babrak Karmal and Dr. Mohammad Najibullah.

[3] A committed Marxist-Leninist he was the author of many books in Pashto and had written 13 books in Pushto and Urdu including a History of Pushto Literature (in Urdu) 'Pakistan Main Qaumi Jamhoori Tehrikin, Da Ghirat Chagha, Batoor, Gul auo Perhar, Guloona auo Takaloona, Jalawatan ki Shairee, Pukhtana Shora and Da Wakht Chagha.

In 2006, the Torlandi Pukhto Adabi Tolana, Swabi, conferred on Ajmal Khattak the title of Baba-e-Nazam at a big public mushaira.

[5] He ended his exile in 1989 after the Awami National Party (ANP), the successor of the NAP, entered into an electoral alliance with Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League- led Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI).

As a leading critic of the PPP, it was important for the ANP – IJI alliance to have Ajmal Khattak in parliament, and he was therefore nominated to the Senate of Pakistan in March 1994.