Hometown calling: Thousands head to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to have their say at the local level

Pindi residents had been campaigning for their relatives contesting today’s LG polls

RAWALPINDI: The grim security situation and ongoing conflicts in the country’s Northwestern region for the past several years forced thousands of families to unwillingly leave their homes and settle in ‘safer’ areas, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Nevertheless, their love for their homeland has not faded away, which is why almost all of them have chosen
to have their say in the local bodies polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for they consider it to be a way to make things normal again and thus return.

Since the last few weeks, Faizabad, Pirwadhai and other major bus stops in Rawalpindi have been witnessing men, women, elderly, youth and children heading back to their hometowns in droves for exercising their right to vote.

“We have witnessed an unexpected rush since last week on bus stands,” said Sajid Afridi, a bus driver at Pir Wadhai.



Faraway canvassing

Besides, residents of the garrison city who have shifted from K-P also ran election campaigns for their relatives contesting elections in another province. They tried to woo voters who can vote in their hometowns to support selected candidates in their native areas.

“There are four candidates contesting elections from my family in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda District,” said Bakht Zada Mohmand, a resident of Dhoke Mangtal in Rawalpindi. His elder brother, Khwaja Muhammad Mohmand, is contesting the election for district chairman while his nephew for the tehsil slot from MC-I Shabqadar.

Mohmand said he has so far published banners, posters and tickers and badges worth Rs0.3 million in Rawalpindi and sent them to his native town to aid the family.

He has since gone to his native town along with friends and family to cast his ballot.

Sardar Alam Mohmand, a resident of Pir Wadhai whose cousin is also contesting the election from Takhtbhai area of Mardan District, said he has sent 5,000 posters, 500 pana-flexes and other materials besides helping his cousin with cash donations.

Fund raising campaigns

Moreover, most people associated with K-P’s candidates have launched fundraising campaigns for their relatives contesting the elections.

Mohmand and his family members claimed they have collected Rs200,000.

He and his friends would also bear the cost of transportation and other expenses on election days. “Though we have settled here but our hearts are still in our home province,” said Mohmand.

“No one can dissociate himself from the place where he belongs to. Participating in the election is the only chance to show our affiliation with our native towns,” said Sher Akbar Shinwari, a resident of Warsak Road Peshawar who settled in Dhoke Hassu six years ago.

Good for business

The incessant power outages in K-P — a bone of contention between the federal and the provincial government — compelled candidates and their supporters to find another way of getting posters, etc published as soon as possible.

In the pursuit, most of them headed to Rawalpindi as K-P’s printing press owners refused to take large orders owing to power outages.

As a result however, printing press owners of Rawalpindi are exploiting the situation by increasing the rates.

“The owners have increased the prices manifold. We paid Rs3,000 for materials that would cost us Rs1,000 in Peshawar,” said Said Rahman Afridi, a resident of Khayaban-e-Sir Syed.

However, printers at Qaiser Plaza in Saddar and Circular Road claimed that due to a rise in demand, they have to hire extra labour due to which they increased the prices of materials.

“To meet the demand, we have been working round the clock. We even have bought generators so the work continues unabated,” said Shahid Raja, an owner of a printing press at Qaiser Plaza. He shared that he has so far published around 50,000 posters, stickers and other materials for the local bodies’ polls in K-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2015.