Safer ground: ANP leaders Skype with workers for election campaign

Former CM Ameer Hoti, Mian Iftikhar have been campaigning telephonically.

MARDAN/ PABBI:

While security threats have confined most Awami National Party (ANP) leaders to their homes, they remain connected with their voters - via Skype or telephone. 

Senior leaders, including former chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, briefly attend rallies and prefer to address political meetings over the phone or video link. Last week in Baricham area of Mardan, Hoti telephonically addressed an ANP corner meeting.

ANP district general secretary Imran Mandori acknowledged the party’s new election strategy. “Hoti usually addresses from his residence and the same speeches are later played for local workers in meetings,” he said.

Voters from divergent backgrounds visit Hoti at his house every day from 11am to 11pm for meetings.

Asad Mayar, Hoti’s election campaign manager for NA-9 and PK-23, said about 2,000 party workers from Baricham, Shamatpur, Gumbat, Baghdada, Mahodhery, Islam Bagh, Mardan Khas, Khazano Dheri and Manga areas have visited Hoti at his residence so far.



The former chief minister used to attend gatherings in the district before the recent attacks. The party leadership has advised him, however, to refrain from doing this because ANP leaders are being targeted and Hoti is on a militant ‘hit-list,’ Mayar added.

The party’s district chapter has become more cautious since two bombs were defused targeting Hoti on April 20. A 15-kilogramme bomb was planted outside the NA-9 election office on Shamsi road and another three-kilogramme bomb in Sehri Koorona near a roadside where Hoti was scheduled to address a gathering.

Former provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who is also on the hit-list, is actively campaigning by telephonic address from his hometown, Pabbi.

The ANP faces tough competition in PK-12 against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Mian Iftikhar along with party workers and local elders have been actively campaigning. He has addressed political gatherings in Dagbehsud, Wazir Garhi, Khush Maqam, and Akbarpura, attracting a large number of supporters, Mayar said.

“We are extremely active in our election campaign in Pabbi,” said Merwais Khan, the ANP’s information secretary for PK-12, adding “Mian Iftikhar is addressing corner meetings and political gatherings over the telephone.”



The locations for gatherings are pre-arranged and security is provided by local authorities. More emphasis is being given on door-to-door campaigning instead of large rallies, Merwais added.

“The elders of our families prefer to attend telephonic addresses of Mian Iftikhar Hussain,” said Muhammad Hussain, a party worker from Dagbehsud. Though people think telephonic speeches are a bit strange, we realise that our party leaders are under attack from militants, Muhammad added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2013.