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Chitral - Political Diary
-- by Islamuddin
Chitral -- While the political players of Pakistan are
realigning and repositioning themselves in preparation
for the next elections, some significant changes have
taken place in the political scene of Chitral. The doyen
of our politicians, Shahzada Mohyeddin, who dominated
the politics of Chitral for well over quarter of a
century has called it a day due to ill health and old
age and made his son Pervaiz his political successor as
District head of APML to cash the windfall of popularity
that exists for Pervaiz Musharaf in Chitral on account
of the construction of Lowari Tunnel, for which he is
credited. Pakistan Peoples Party failed to share the
credit for its construction owing to poor leadership and
media management despite the fact that it was Bhutto,
who first started work on the project and the same was
suspended by the Martial Law government of General Ziaul
Haq whose illegal rule was bolstered by some Chitralis.
The expectations of the people, that some of the
populist policies of PPP initiated in the past to
empower the people will come to fruition, have not
materialized so far leading to rising public frustration
and disappointment with the party. Shahzada Mohyuddin
will long be remembered for his powerful personality and
impact, most of which is not conducive to Chitral’s long
term interests. In some way he defined the politics of
Chitral and it was very difficult to remain neutral
about him as far as his political style was concerned
and some of the things he did like failing to conserve
forests, promoting contractors interests at the cost of
Chitral’s sustainable development and culture of
impunity and promotion of personality cult leading to
the weakening of institutions. But his recent move to
join APML is a clever one which likely to bring
dividends to his son Pervaiz. Some commentators are
giving credit to Musharaf for comparatively clean
government before the advent of Choudhrys and they are
pleading to give Musharaf a chance as civilian leader
and the astute politician in Mohyeddin decided to grasp
the opportunity.
Maulana Abdul Akbar, who had emerged as a populist voice
enjoying tremendous media coverage could not maintain
his position due to his failure to maintain balance
between his religious agenda and the needs of Chitral.
His obsession first with Shahzada Mohyeddin and now with
Saleem Khan has taken the better of him to the
detriments of Chitrals permanent interests for which he
was eminently placed and from which his party benefited
in the last local body elections when his nominee got
the prized position of District Nazim despite having
minority position in the District Assembly. He only
played to the gallery without trying to actually do some
thing for Chitral. He even left his job of uniting
Chitral unfinished. His posture during this period had
received much hype that at long last Chitral had
rediscovered itself and vested interests will not be
allowed to damage its unity any more. Unfortunately he
failed to maintain his across the board popularity on
this count and relapsed to his original mindset. He
failed to differentiate between individuals and
denominations that those individuals belonged to. If an
elected representative performed poorly it would not be
fair to blame his or her denomination. By doing so he
unwittingly fell into the trap of his opponents and may
now lose support in the non traditional vote bank in
which he had successfully made inroads. As our
politicians are learning to be decent with opponents,
thanks to the policy of reconciliation pursued by
Zardari, foul-mouthing by some may backfire and the
Maulana would soon learn it, though in a hard way. If we
compare the Maulana with Saleem Khan we see more
development work having been carried out despite
resource constraints and the Maulana could not do half
the job despite having enormous anti terror funds at the
government’s disposal perhaps because he had other
priorities. Yes Saleem may be guilty of a degree of
cronyism and nepotism but this art had been perfected by
the MMA government who used to believe that charity
begins at home.
Another significant change in the political landscape of
Chitral is the emergence of PakistanTehrik-e-Insaf of
Imran Khan, which has gained sudden and unexpected
strength with the entry of Wg Cdr (r) Fardad Ali Shah
and his supporters. After developing differences with
PPP over policy issues he left the party at its prime. A
lot of work had gone into bringing Fardad Ali Shah to
the PPP fold and the way he was allowed to depart speaks
volumes for the lack of sincerity with which party
affairs are managed or mismanaged.. Personal agendas of
power wielders are taking upper hands over party
interests and the perception that make hay when the sun
shines appears to rule the roost. As size of the cake is
small other claimants are held back on one pretext or
another, which is anathema for a democratic mindset
which requires increasing support base by winning over
opponents and not pushing them away. But here we see the
opposite. This is not the PPP that Bhutto bequeathed to
his supporters. Saleem should not have accepted party
presidentship in Chitral and instead should have used
this opportunity to bridge the differences between the
Nazimeen and workers group to reunite the party, for
which he was eminently placed by virtue of his position
and demeanor as a decent and harmless politician. The
fact that Nazimeen group played crucial role in his
election made it mandatory for him to do so. The
strength of PPP comes from its adherence to principles
even at the cost of Shahadat and political expediency
for petty gains amounts to betrayal of those principles.
The people have already paid the debt owed to Bhuttos
and now the party will be judged by its performance as
depicted in the media. So far the media has been unkind
to PPP government and its media managers have performed
poorly. Moreover Fatima Bhutto factor and those of other
estranged leaders will also play their role in shaping
Chitral’s political scene for PPP. She has created quite
an impact globally and enjoys support in important
quarters, although in Chitral she has yet to make an
impact.
The turf war between JI and JUI is still brewing but
will not come to the fore in the expectation that MMA
may be revived. In that case other parties will find it
difficult to beat the alliance single-handedly. However
the rising popularity of Imran Khan among the youth
promise surprises. Bulk of the people in KPK hold MMA
responsible for the rise of Taliban and JI is unhappy
with JUI for undermining its position and stealing its
voters. In this background some analysts consider PTI as
a more potent threat to the religious right, though at
present he appears to have soft corner for them. Imran
Khan has to come clean on this score. According to
estimates young voters likely to vote for PTI, number 60
million and if they are enrolled and turn up to vote
then we are in for big surprises. There is an impression
that our establishment and foreign partners who matter,
are ready to welcome him as new leader of Pakistan and
expect him to rid Pakistan of corrupt elements. During a
recent TV program Imran Khan was cornered for allowing
corrupt elements in his party, which made his
anti-corruption agenda doubtful, his response was that
these people have changed. Another problem is Imran
Khan’s impetuosity and no holds barred emotionalism,
which may earn him enemies in an evolutionary democracy
and perhaps that is why he calls for revolution. The
same may be true for Nawaz Sharif but to a lesser extent
as he runs the risk of credibility loss having been
given opportunity to rule over Pakistan twice. In
Chitral he is known for his disdain for Chitralis and
that is enough to diminish his chances here
.
A local party like CNM continues to hold promise. There
is a strong feeling among many people that the peculiar
problems of Chitral can only be addressed by a party
formed on the basis of local issues. They still bemoan
destruction of CNM by vested interests through
intimidation, blackmail and bribery. However this
nostalgia runs counter to the cross currents of
globalization and national unity. But the debate to
redrawing provincial boundaries on ethnic lines
following the rechristening of NWFP as KPK is likely to
rekindle this feeling leading to new political
alignments driven by ethnic considerations. There is
already a strong movement for Biloristan in
Gilgit-Baltistan which encompasses Chitral as well. The
rise of MQM is another indicator of the emergence of
ethnic nationalism in this part of the world. The
divisive role of religious elements also makes pressing
case for ethnic nationalism to counter balance divisive
extremism with the overriding imperatives for unity and
peace, which have been hallmarks of the mountain areas
stretching from Kashmir to Caucasia, the home of
spiritual Islam until the US backed Jehad Brigade
arrived here to defeat Communism by reinventing
political Islam of the Arab tribal brand. The option of
an ethnic state can be stalled by back rolling religious
extremism and encouraging re-emergence of spiritual
Islam. For this we have to come out of our strategic
depth syndrome and preference for Jehad as a strategic
tool and instead reach out to all neighbours for
friendship and mutually beneficial relationship.
The next elections are going to be an entirely different
ball game. Free media has changed a lot of things. Old
methods can not work but performance and character
will. PTI will have to burn midnight oil to cover
ground, being a new entrant. PPP will have to improve
its record during the remaining period before the polls.
Religious right will have to come out of their narrow
mindset embracing all sects and developing broad based
alliance for an agreed Islamic dispensation. For other
parties it is an uphill task but then politics is the
art of the possible and miracles do happen.
-- The writer is a former bureaucrat and a political
Analyst.-- 21 Aug 2011.
Comment
1
I would like to
appreciate the effort to discuss the political scenario
of Chitral. The knowledge and information you have on
the subject particularly local parties is marvelous. I
wish you take down your Diary in Urdu as well, so that
not only your clear, factual and sharp comments may
travel to vast readership but also to the local
leadership.-- Ejaz Ahmed,
Islamabad
Comment
2
I fully agree with the
writer's analysis of the current and upcoming political
scenario. People are fed up with the current political
parties and the unspeakable administrative system. They
have seen the real and unveiled faces of all the major
political parties and icons. In the next elections,
there will be a tough contest for power. But if the
people really want “change” in the system then they will
have to cast their vote in favor of some new political
faces since they are now,well aware of the old ones. In
this regard, PTI, will be seen as the best option
because of the popularity and impeccable character of
its founder. It is observed that it’s the most popular
party among the youth now. So with the new voter lists,
PTI will have, definitely, a good chance to represent a
vast majority of the people. But for this PTI should
include more and more learned and astute people in its
ring even at the village level. Elections in Pakistan
are not easy so PTI will have to fight tooth and nail to
defeat the old and experienced political parties.
--Yasir Ali (student), Karachi.
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