Building ground: ‘PkMAP reached new heights after May 11’

The Pashtun-nationalist party claims more than 800 people joined after elections.

KARACHI:

After securing victory in the general elections from Quetta, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) is now gaining ground in Karachi and attracting Pashtun nationalists of the city.

The PkMAP Sindh chapter leadership claimed more than 800 people joined the party after the May 11 elections. Its Sindh chapter deputy secretary, Bacha Gul, gave credit for the party’s success to the new members who struggled for the Pashtuns of Karachi during voters registration and delimitation of constituencies.

“Our party’s manifesto attracted people to join us,” boasted the PkMAP deputy secretary, adding that people hailing from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had shown more interest in the party as compared to those from Quetta.

Pakhtun National Alliance (PNA) president Haji Mohammad Barki, who has recently merged his party with the PkMAP, told The Express Tribune that both the parties wanted to struggle for the rights of Pashtun. “We believe that our leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai is the best man to represent and defend the cause of Pashtuns on the national and international front,” said Barki. He said that over 400 PNA activists have hoisted the PkMAP flags at their houses and were now working under the PkMAP umbrella.



Syed Wazir Alaiwal, a textile exporter formerly associated with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has recently joined the PkMAP. He said that their objective was to work for the rights of the Pashtun in Sindh.

“The PPP distressed me, which is why I left it. I didn’t want to join the ANP because it is not completely a Pashtun nationalist party,” said Alaiwal. He added that he and family members did not put party flags on their houses because of security reasons. “Flag politics have vanished from the city as now you can be harassed or attacked by rival party members.”

PkMap Sindh chapter vice president Sikandar Khan Yousufzai told The Express Tribune that after May 11 elections, people were joining the party every day. “Though, we don’t give party membership to everybody, still more than 800 people have joined since elections,” said Yousufzai, adding that the PkMAP didn’t even set up membership camps like other parties. “Whosoever joins the party is thoroughly scrutinised before allotting membership.”

According to him, people from other parties in Ittehad Town, Saddar, Landhi, Orangi, SITE Town and Gadap town have also contacted the leadership of the PkMAP with a desire to be a part of it. “The PkMap is filling the space for a Pashtun-based party after the ANP failed to live up to its promises during the last five years it was in the government,” he said.

“In Karachi, we have to do a lot on the ground level to increase our membership, which is now in hundreds, but it should be in thousands, keeping in view the population of Pashtun in the city,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2013.