Sympathy votes demand loyalty -letter

First of all I would like to congratulate the winners of 2008 general elections in Chitral and wish them well, and also extend my sympathies to those who tried and failed.  Regarding the election results I have the following observations to make.

Sympathy votes have played a very prominent role in recent general elections in Chitral. Though the PPPP NA candidate could not win the seat, he got 18000 sympathy votes for Mohtarma Benazir's shahadat.

The PML (Q) candidates however effectively cashed on the sympathy votes for Musharraf which prevail in Chitral. The fact that the PML candidate for NA was displaying huge billboards of himself standing along with Gen Musharraf and mentioning Musharraf's services to Chitral in almost every other sentence of his election speech is ample proof of the PML (Q) reliance on Musharraf factor in Chitral. Sympathy with Gen Musharaf paid off particularly well in upper Chitral where the PML (Q) candidate, a new comer in politics not only unexpectedly won the seat but also facilitated the win of the NA candidate who was trailing in lower Chitral.

Now that the elections are over, it is very important that the winning candidates stick to their parties and do not change loyalties on the the pretext of 'development works in Chitral'. In the past such has happened  because of which Chitralis have been branded as unprincipled people due to such examples of our leaders.

Chitralis direly need a  good image of being people with principles and  character who can forego perks and privileges for the sake of principles.

I hope our honourable members of the National and Provincial Assemblies will uphold our aspirations this time.

Farid ul Haque,

Chitral