Will Nowshera sacrifice former CM for promises of jobs?

Pervez Khattak aims to entrench himself even as PTI’s grip appears to wane

PESHAWAR: As the province goes to the polls along with the rest of the country, eyes turn to Nowshera with the questions: will the chief minister retain his seat and return to the helm of affairs? Will the promises of jobs be enough to draw sufficient votes?

There are two national assembly seats including NA-25 and NA-26 up for grabs from the district in addition to five Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) assembly seats, PK-61 through to PK-65.

Former K-P chief minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket holder is looking to further entrench himself and his family in this district. This is evident in how Khattak is contesting from a national assembly seat and two provincial assembly seats. His son-in-law is contesting from the other national assembly seat in the district.

There are 1.52 million people who live in Nowshera district. Around half of these or 756,628 people, are registered as voters including 422,765 men and 333,863 women.



The district was once considered to be a stronghold for the Pakistan People Party (PPP) while the Awami National Party (ANP) was the main opposition party. In 2008, it sent two ANP candidates to the provincial legislature as opposed to one for the PPP and one from each party to the national assembly.

In 2013, the district saw the PTI sweep all five provincial assembly seats and the two national assembly seats.

Khattak, who was once PPP worker, is now leading PTI’s charge in the district, boasting about the developmental work his government undertook in the district over the past five years including the improvement in road infrastructure and education.

Even the notices from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over the use of ‘foul language’ has failed to slow Khattak’s momentum.



NA-25

This is Khattak’s home constituency which he won by a landslide in the 2013 general elections with 70,053 votes (NA-5). He also secured the corresponding PK-13 Nowshera-II (now PK-62) constituency with 27,012 votes.

He gave up the national assembly seat in favour of the provincial assembly seat and the chief ministership of the province. He was succeeded on the seat by Imran Khattak who bagged 48,043 votes.

Khattak’s competitor is Siraj Khan. Siraj had won the other national assembly seat from Nowshera in the 2013 elections with 54,266 votes. But with the party ignoring him in this election, he switched his allegiance to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Among the seven other candidates contesting this constituency is local businessman-turned-social worker Khan Pervez.

Pervez too used to be part of the PTI but has now joined the PPP and has been pulling massive crowds to his political gatherings and has helped breathe new life into the PPP in the district.

Another PTI member contesting the seat is Ayesha Gulalai Wazir who now heads a faction of the party.

ANP stalwart Malik Juma Khan and Pir Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) are the others in contention for this constituency.



“The presence of a number of seasoned politicians from this constituency has made the competition very tough,” said a senior local journalist who is working in the district. “This time, it is not just a vote for the PTI or its chief Imran Khan, but its candidates and they will have to fight hard to win their seats back.”

He added the parties are focusing on enticing the youth, particularly from the PTI and promising them better jobs.

The party’s local leadership, though, is bitter over lethargy of its leaders — especially when it comes to fulfilling promises on jobs. Moreover, the use of foul language against competitors during public gatherings do not elicit the same response any more.

“The situation is far better than in 2013,” said Khan Pervez, who quit the PTI to join the PPP. He clarified that he was referring to the security situation.

“We have peaceful conditions to run our campaigns in,” he said.

Pervez said that he is promising to provide the people with better employment opportunities by restarting closed mills in the district.

“There are a large number of youngsters here who need jobs,” Pervez said, adding that the PTI government hardly paid any attention to this issue.

“The first demand of the voters is jobs,” he added.

NA-26

The battle in this constituency is between two young candidates —Dr Imran Khattak from the PTI and Jamal Khattak of the ANP

The former is the son-in-law of the province’s ex-chief minister while the latter hails from an influential political family from Manki Sharif.

The PPP is said to be weak here since its two senior leaders including former MNA Tariq Khattak and his elder brother Ishaq Khattak have left the party. They first switched over to the ANP and then to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

Daud Khattak, a former District Nazim, who had contested the 2013 elections on an ANP ticket, has returned to the PPP and will be contesting the elections on the provincial assembly seat PK-64.

Feroz Kakakhel, the son of former PPP leader Jamal Kakakhel — spiritual leader of the Kakakhel Syeds — will be contesting the seat on a PPP ticket.

The Jamaat-e-Islami, which is contesting under the umbrella of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), has handed a ticket to Asif Luqman Qazi — the son of its former chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2018.