The purpose of my writing the under reference article, on the recent Chitral polls was to generate a healthy debate with a view to helping people to make correct political choice, which is the soul of democracy. Some of the letters written in response to my article tend to see Chitrali politics through colored glasses, while others have picked up pieces out of context for critical comments. No one has commented on the culture of impunity and greed (extremism and corruption) around which my argument revolved. Mr. Sajjad may be right that sectarian considerations may have played role in lower Chitral but the fact remains that ethnicity and regionalism have played major role in upper Chitral, which Mr. Sajjad himself admits. This was precisely my argument. It is my considered opinion that instead of performance and merit, parochial considerations (sect, ethnicity, and region) and greed were used to sway the voters.

 

There are reasons to believe that people rose from their graves and absentees chartered planes to come to the polling stations in Chitral to cast their votes. It is, therefore, not surprising that voter turn out in Chitral was 50% as against Pakistan’s average of 25-29% and that also in this year’s harshest winter when more than a quarter of Chitral’s population is living in cities to escape the harsh winter and earn livelihood for their families. Some body has yet to explain it as to how voter turn out in far away border areas was so overwhelming. These are the poorest areas inhabited mostly by Ismailis. Dr. Sofia puts the voter turn out at 200,000 while the actual turn out was half of that figure.

 

Let me inform Dr. Sofia that I was a strong supporter of Begum Suleman until 2002 when she exerted her influence in the party to get party ticket for a relative, who did nothing for Chitral during her 5 year stint in power nor she and her sponsor bothered to visit Chitral to console the families affected by the natural disasters during 2004-2005. I wish she had supported an ordinary self made Chitrali woman for the MPA seat. Farhat ullah Babar lost Senate election by one vote and there are rumours that this lady MPA did not vote for him. There is general impression that she deliberately kept the party weak in Chitral and remained hand in glove with other clan members to protect their interests at the cost of the general public and the PPP. She also craftily blocked the award of NA ticket to a popular candidate, to serve this end.

 

Being myself an Ayubian, I wish that Shahzada Mohyeddin and Begum Suleman had served Chitral well. The fact that Nisar Jeelani chose to declass himself during the recent polls by dropping the title “Shahzada”, amply demonstrates that we Ayubians, have lost genuine public support .Nisar Jeelani is a good man and would have won the election hands down, had it not been for the Machiavellian tactics of his opponents and the historical baggage of our dynasty. It is time we brought forward the best among the Ayubian clan, who identify themselves with public interest and are prepared to serve Chitral as servants of the people As first step to achieve this goal they must show courage and grace to own their past, both achievements and failures and say sorry for past mistakes.  Nisar Jeelani has given a lead. Hopefully he will take it to its logical conclusion, failing which I intend to do it myself as member of the Ayubian dynasty. Once this conflict is resolved, Chitralis will regain their composure and start respecting themselves and their past. Ayubians have to own Chitral as equal stakeholders.

 

Apart from the above two letters, others including my good friend and class fellow Mr. Mir Baiz Khan have also commented on my letter. Some of the writers suffer from defense mechanism syndrome and blame game, while others have got their facts wrong. Modern knowledge tells us that conflicts give strength when these are recognized and resolved. My aim is to persuade others to join the debate to achieve this objective. We are not arguing before a jury nor am I fuelling communal passions. It is already there. I am only appealing to right thinking Chitralis to exert their influence to bring sanity to our society but without resolving fundamental conflicts in our society, we can never unite the people for development. If digging the graves is of no use, then Australian Prime Minister was wrong in apologizing to the aborigines, Zardari was wrong apologizing to Balochis and Nelson Mandela was wrong in forgiving the Whites for their policies of apartheid. Festering wounds can be cured through surgery. Let there be balanced debate rather than personal attacks, emotional outbursts and shifting blames. We must agree to disagree and that is the soul of democracy and sound intellect. Shahzada Mohyeddin refused to accept congratulation on his victory from someone saying that the person opposed him during the polls. Have we voted for democracy or dictatorship? Are we doing enough to liberate our people from mental slavery? Who will give confidence to Sunnis and Ismailis to break the wall of suspicion and distrust? Who will stop the hands of sectarian elements in both the communities doing business and politics in the name of religion? These questions need answers.

 

Fight or flight, it is our choice but do not confuse the already confused. Change is our destiny and it will happen. Chitralis will wake up and unite. All of us share common destiny. We have to own each other but for that to happen we should accept our acts of omission and commission and apologize for mistakes so that healing process can start. To err is human but to deny it is evil, arrogant and self righteous. I am sorry if I have hurt anybody’s feeling. It was never my intention to hurt anyone.

 

Another point that I want to make categorically clear is that I have no political agenda and I have no intention to enter politics. I am only a concerned Chitrali, who can not take the flight for safety. I love my homeland and I had to come here after my retirement and I have to live here so I am trying to bequeath a Chitral to my children, which is better than the Chitral I inherited. I have been to many countries around the world and I have not seen any place better than Chitral and I can not standby doing nothing when unscrupulous elements go scot-free spoiling its beauty.

 

Mr. Mir Baiz is wrong when he says that PPP was my favorite in the polls. My favorites were the candidates backed by All Parties (except PMLQ) Chitral Dost Alliance. In this I saw the possibility of reducing ethnic, regional and sectarian tensions. Establishment (local influentials, hard liners in the religious establishment and vested interests) did not allow this effort to succeed. Ismailis allowed themselves to be hijacked by the establishment to sabotage this genuine effort for change. Perhaps they were too materialistic or their local leaders lacked vision. As a result Chitral stepped out of the mainstream. Pakistan voted against the establishment but in Chitral we went another direction. One writer has suggested that Land Disputes Settlement Commission Recommendations and 1975 Notifications are dead issues. It is anti-Chitral statement. The fact is that these instruments are very much alive and only our leaders have failed to bring them into spotlight because vested interests ganged up to deny genuine representation to the people who could have raised and implemented these laws. The recent disasters, which were more man made than natural, occurred due to our failure to enforce the laws governing land management. Under these laws pastures, forests, barren land and river beds are common property and their use has to be regulated by the Government in public interest.

 

Unless these contradictions and conflicts are admitted and resolved, Chitral can not hope to develop and free itself from colonial bondage and traditional mindset.

 

The policy of divide and rule pursued by former rulers to generate funds and frighten opponents has run its course and must be reversed. Its continuation helped Ziaul Haq to add fuel to the dying fire of sectarianisms leading to communal clashes in 1982. Sectarian political parties and Ziaul Haq loyalists reinvented the issue to get votes by pitting one sect against the other. During 2002 elections a dangerous situation was created in Garam Chashma. Had it not been for Maulana Abdul Akbar, the situation would have got out of hand. We expect Maulana Chitrali to do more to introduce pragmatic issue based politics in Chitral. 

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The dictates of meritocracy and pragmatic politics demand early resolution of the contradictions and conflicts in our society. The wall of mistrust must fall. It is self destructive to oppose opening of Aga Khan University campus in Chitral. The Govt. of Pakistan is using AKU to attain global reach in terms of quality education but we, in Chitral, instead of thanking Aga Khan for bringing quality education at our door step, are opposing it. This institution can be built elsewhere in Chitral but Chitral town, because of its dense population, is the donor choice. It will bring prosperity to Chitral and jump starts its economy and March towards marketable quality education. Our future generation will never forgive us if we fail to benefit from this opportunity. We expect the District Govt. and the newly elected representatives to build on the communal goodwill partially generated during the recent elections and resolve the sectarian, regional and ethnic conflicts. Rising of these issues during elections must be outlawed. Ismaili leadership must regain their confidence and reach out to other communities. A good start has been made by opening the door of Jamat khanas for Maulana Chitrali and Abdul Wali advocate during the recent polls for canvassing. Social occasions in Jamat Khanas should be opened for non Ismailis to promote mutual understanding and respect. This is the only way to restore Chitral’s unity and self respect. Democracy and genuine representation will remain distant dreams unless we resolve the contradictions and fault lines prevailing in our society.

 

Yet another contradiction in Chitral is the manufactured perception that elected representatives must be on the right side of authority, as it would benefit Chitral. This mindset undermines democracy and promotes lotacracy. Using this ploy our representatives have enriched themselves at the cost of our self respect and use every tool at their command to get elected with a view to protecting and promoting their vested interests at the cost of public interest. The fact that we keep on voting for such people shows that we still have to go a long way to become politically aware and understand our genuine interests. Without ideals, awareness and vision we can only march into darkness and there are people who thrive in darkness.

 

Islamuddin,

Garam Chashma,

Chitral.