Dawn of new political era: Top politicians rally in ex-FATA areas

Political activities were almost unheard of in FCR era

SHABQADAR: On July 4, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari became the first major political leader from his party to hold a rally ahead of the elections in ex-FATA areas. He went to the Mohmand-Charsadda border, careful not to dip his toe over district lines and fall afoul of the election code of conduct, and staged a grand political gathering in support of the PPPP candidate in Mohmand.

He later addressed a similar election gathering in Lower Dir near Bajaur.

The choice of neighbouring districts for rallies rather than the tribal constituencies themselves was because Bilawal, as a member of the national assembly, is not legally allowed to address election rallies or gatherings in a constituency where an election is scheduled.

Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leaders including Maryam Nawaz and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi were also due to visit Lower Dir on July 16, to address an election gatherings for Bajaur tribal district, but that plan was put postponed owing to a court hearing in Islamabad, according to PML-N PK-101 Bajaur-II candidate Nizamuddin Khan.

With no political alliances for the July 20 polls, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Asfandyar Wali Khan and former K-P information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain took the advantage of the PML-N leaders’ absence and visited Pandyali Mohmand – an area that was once firmly under the control of militants – on July 16 and addressed a large public gathering in Mohmand.

The address, considered to be the first by any ANP chief in the tribal district, made local ANP leaders as well as the central leadership quite happy at the historic event.

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Asfandyar and Mian Iftikhar beamed as the spoke of development in their respective speeches.

“The lines drawn by colonial masters between tribal and settled Pakhtun districts have finally come to an end,” Asfandyar said.

Ground for the ANP chief’s visit had been laid by his son and the party’s provincial president Aimal Wali Khan in June. In what was his first visit to Mohmand as a party leader, Aimal too had expressed the same emotion.

He conceded that it was his first political visit to Mohmand, even though the area is located adjacent to his home constituency. But, he explained, his ancestors had been banned from entering the region in the past.

Political analysts consider the visits by political parties’ leaders to the region as a major milestone after the Fata merger, arguing that they strengthen democracy and democratic processes in the war-torn merged tribal districts.

Maulana Khan Zeb, who has closely studied the tribal areas, especially Mohmand and Bajaur, said that although Bacha Khan had visited Chamarkand in Bajaur on the advice of Shaykh al-Hind Mahmud Hasan and laid the foundation of the pre-independence freedom struggle in Bajaur, later, he and his family were banned from entering the area, as were other political leaders, due to the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

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“But now, these districts are a part of K-P and ANP leaders such as Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, and Asfandyar Wali are holding public gatherings in places where only leaders of religious parties’ were previously allowed to enter,” he said.

PPP Mohmand President Farooq Afzal, who has twice contested elections from Mohmand, in 2008 and 2013, also welcomed this development.

He said that PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had visited Fata when he was the prime minister and had announced developmental projects for the area.

“It was Bhutto who first inaugurated colleges in each tribal district of Fata,” Afzal said, adding that former Pakistan president Farooq Leghari introduced universal adult franchise in Fata in 1997, and then another former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari extended the political parties act to Fata in 2011, which allowed the 2013 elections to be held on party basis in the tribal districts.

He said that the PPP had also supported the Fata merger under the 25th Constitutional Amendment, and today, when others still hesitate to visit Fata to address public gatherings, Bilawal took the initiative.

Afzal added that it is the dawn of a new political era that will not only strengthen democracy but will also bring awareness and durable peace in the region. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2019.