Peoples’ mandate: Mian Iftikhar hides bitterness behind veil of optimism

Admitting his party has been “handicapped” by the attacks on its leaders, Hussain is not willing to give up.

PESHAWAR:

Senior leader of the beleaguered Awami National Party (ANP) and former provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain remains an unapologetic democrat even in the face of the militants’ surmounting belligerence against his party.

“We request our people to come out of their homes and cast their ballots in favour of the parties who are more loyal to the country,” Hussain said while talking to The Express Tribune.

Admitting his party has been “handicapped” by the continuous attacks on its leaders and workers, Hussain, however, is not willing to give up his optimism about how the ANP will fare in the polls. “The ANP has done record development work in the province and people will vote for the party in the polls.”

But behind the veil of optimism lies bitterness over the lack of security provided to the party’s candidates. For this, he blames the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the most part.

“The ECP could not properly discharge its duties. Right from the very first day, they should have focused on the security of candidates,” he said. “The ANP does not consider the elections to be free and fair. Throughout the election campaign, party leaders have been confined to their homes.”

Hussain sees the inadequate security provided to his party while other parties carry out campaigns freely as a violation of their mandate. “Is this not pre-poll rigging?” he questioned out loud. “If there was some other political party in place of ANP, it would have boycotted the polls as some have done earlier.”

While the ANP has unreservedly been at the forefront of targeted attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have also witnessed their share of violence.

Hussain stressed the only way to defeat the terrorists and prevent them from imposing their ideology upon the masses was by stepping out of the house and voting.

He said the ANP did not have enough money to spend exorbitant sums on advertisements on print and electronic media. “The ECP never questioned where the parties got the huge amounts of money for their election campaigns,” he said.

Wracked by terrorism, ANP has also lost some leaders who defected either due to security concerns or resentment over not being allotted party tickets. But Hussain is keen to downplay the affect this might have on the party’s standing.

“This a part of democracy, people should go the way they like,” he said, adding the party neither has the time nor the resources to visit every “nook and cranny” of the province to bring back its lost workers and leaders.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2013.