ANP’s shifting politics: from Bacha Khan Markaz to Mardan House

Banaras residents complain they cannot travel all the way to Mardan House.

KARACHI:

Bacha Khan Markaz on Manghopir Road was once a community centre for the Pashtu-speaking population of the city. Now it stands isolated, in much the same way as the party it served as headquarters for.

The building was made in 2004 in the Pirabad area of SITE Town. Apart from serving as the political office of the predominantly Pashtun, Awami National Party (ANP), the centre helped the community celebrate their culture and literature for years. ANP Sindh's former general secretary, late Amin Khattak, would sit in the office all day, settling issues brought to him by the residents.  Since the party came under attack by militant outfits, the ANP officials decided to stop using Bacha Khan Markaz as their centre of political activities. In fact, the last activity held at the centre was its slain leader Bashir Ahmed Bilour's, funeral prayers in absentia.

The residents of Banaras miss the hustle and bustle around this building and the fact that their local leadership is not available at all times to resolve their disputes. "Ameen Khattak was always there at his office where anyone could take up their issue and he would always help them," said Muhammad Riaz of Pirabad. "A poor man with hundreds of problems can't go from Banaras to Mardan House in Defence."

The ANP officials cite security threats for this move. "Shahi Syed has kept himself limited to his residence in Mardan House on the advice of the intelligence agencies," said an official, on the condition of anonymity, adding that Syed only comes on very special occasions. After Ameen Khattak's death, Bashir Jan stepped up as the party's provincial general secretary and would come regularly to the centre. But he also stopped coming after he survived an attack on his car at Frontier Morr in SITE Town in August last year. Since then, all the ANP meetings and press conferences are held at Mardan House. Under the ANP's constitution, the party's provincial president and general secretary should sit at their offices inside the provincial headquarters every day, but this is no longer the case.

Beyond politics

"Bacha Khan Markaz holds not only political importance, rather it has a literary history too," said Pashtu poet and critic Qaiser Afridi, who remembers Bacha Khan Markaz hosting annual literary programmes in the memory of Pashtu poet, scholar and critic Qalandar Mohmand. Pashtu literary societies, including Jaras Adabi Jirga and Ittefaq Adabi Tolana, have also held their literary activities in the office from time to time. "Not only have the politicians lost their contact but people from the literary world are also facing a lack of contact and interaction since its closure."

Irreplaceable

Rana Gul Afridi, one of the senior leaders of the ANP who was among those who built Bacha Khan Markaz, felt sorry for its current status. "We have lost the regular interaction we had with our activists," said Afridi. "In politics, when you lose linkages you start failing."

Afridi said Mardan House cannot replace Bacha Khan Markaz as the former is somebody's personal residence. It is hard to hold a general body meeting of party workers in Mardan House but the ANP Sindh officials are holding the party's cabinet meetings there, he said.

"Bacha Khan Markaz was built in Banaras because it is the largest area of Pashtuns in terms of population and was serving as a home to Pashtuns," he explained, adding quickly that he was not criticising the party leaders. "We just cannot go there due to security threats from militants who have settled in the surrounding areas."

Afridi does not believe that giving personal security guards to party leaders is a solution to the problem. "The police and Rangers have to wipe-out the militants," he said.

Down Memory Lane: Bacha Khan Markaz — the centre of ANP

Bacha Khan Markaz was built in February 2004 when Qamoos Gul Khattak was the Awami National Party’s provincial president. ANP central leader Asfandyar Wali Khan inaugurated the two-storey office that spreads over 240 yards. It comprises a hospital of the Bacha Khan Welfare Trust, a hall for party meetings, a library, offices for party leaders and a few shops, which have been rented out. For long now, the gatekeeper is the only one present in the building. No one shows up to borrow a book from its library or hold a mushaira, which once used to be a regular feature at Bacha Khan Markaz.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2014.