Democracy peeped from behind the mountainous curtains of Kohat Valley for the first time in years. DESIGN: SUNARA NIZAMI
KOHAT:
Democracy peeped from behind the mountainous curtains of Kohat Valley for the first time in years. The mob comprised only a few thousand Pakhtuns, but bore the lively bustle of a people enjoying the rare pleasure of attending a political rally in this largely forsaken district.
Senator Abbas Afridi had organised the event for his father, who will be running for a National Assembly seat in the upcoming polls. The site chosen was the famous Company Bagh, whose soil has been treaded upon by many a great historical figure in the past, including Mahatma Gandhi.
A few thousand is hardly a feat for a political congregation at any of the country’s urban centres. However, organisers claim that the relatively small numbers of the Kohat rally spoke volumes as most of the participants hailed from surrounding villages plagued by militancy and lawlessness. Rally participants from these villages said that they had never seen such a huge congregation by a local ruler.
But allegiance to democracy is not all there was to the rally: the Afridi family has been given a free hand by the government to provide gas connections in the Kohat district. This leverage served as an impetus for gas-starved villagers to join, in the hopes of securing an important utility.
Almost all the villages and towns in the constituency (NA-14) sported billboards inscribing the completion, or in few cases inauguration, of gas supply projects by the Afridi brothers. The family also claims to have administered many other development projects in the area such as building of colleges and a key bridge which links the district to Punjab.
Though mainstream politicians like PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had addressed rallies in Kohat earlier, Sunday’s rally was significant as the largest one held after militancy had spread its roots in the area.
A volatile district
Kohat has been a garrison town since independence and has served as a gateway to the lawless tribal belt and ‘settled areas’ - a term used for areas coming outside Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which fall under the provincial jurisdiction. Militants were known to have carried out several attacks in these areas.
Shameem Afridi, father of Abbas Afridi, who will be contesting the elections, is a victim of one such attack. He received 21 bullets in a gun attack where some of his personal guards died but he survived and remained under treatment for over a year. Assassination attempts were also made on Senator Abbas and his brothers.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2013.
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Its funny how Mr Afridi should surface at the tail end of his governments cycle while also embellishing the attacks on his family which were NOT perpetrated by the Taliban but by his family's rivals.