Discontent in the ranks: Senate nominations leave party chiefs in K-P seething

PML-N, JUI-F, JI and PTI nominate other party members for seats.

PESHAWAR:

With just over two weeks left to Senate elections, nominations from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for seats of the Upper House have left provincial chiefs of various political parties seething. 

Three major parties of the provincial assembly, PTI, PML-N and JUI-F, did not award tickets to their provincial chiefs despite strong possibilities that the office-bearers would make it to Parliament’s Upper House.

In the lead up to the nominations, PML-N K-P President Pir Sabir Shah and General Secretary Iqbal Zafar Jhagra were being tipped as candidates for the Senate, however, the party nominated Shah as covering candidate for General (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi from Mansehra, while Jhagra was adjusted on a seat from Islamabad. The decision left the usually sober and soft-spoken Shah incensed.

A day after being named covering candidate, Shah addressed a news conference in Peshawar and asked the PML-N central leadership to retract his candidacy or he would be compelled to resign from his position of provincial chief.

The PML-N leader said he accepted the party’s decision of nominating Tirmizi but he could not accept his nomination as the covering candidate.

Shah’s outburst seemed to have its desired impact and on Friday former MPA Muhammad Javed Abbasi submitted his nomination papers as covering candidate for Tirmizi.

A similar situation occurred in JUI-F’s ranks; former senator and provincial chief Gul Naseeb Khan was being considered a strong candidate for a general seat JUI-F is expected to win in the Senate from K-P. However, the party awarded the ticket to Maulana Attaur Rehman, younger brother of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while Naseeb was nominated for a technocrat seat instead.

As a silent protest, Naseeb did not submit his nomination papers, and on Friday Haji Mohammad Yaqub filed papers for the technocrat seat.

A JUI-F spokesperson denied that Naseeb was unhappy with the party’s decisions. Regarding the provincial chief’s refusal to submit nomination papers for a technocrat seat, the spokesperson said Naseeb did not want to contest the polls.

Similarly, the province’s ruling party, PTI, also denied a ticket to its K-P chief Azam Swati and provincial general secretary Khalid Masood. Before the nominations were announced, Azam was being tipped as a sure shot candidate for the Upper House, although there was some opposition to Masood’s possible nomination.

However, the list of PTI’s candidates issued on the last day of submission of nomination papers did not possibly leave space for any kind of adjustment. Tickets were issued to little known and not so well-heeled candidates instead. Office-bearers of the party were not even nominated as covering candidates.

JI’s provincial chief was also deprived of a ticket. Professor Ibrahim, who has served as a senator in the past, was likely to have been the party’s nomination to the Upper House had JI chief Sirajul Haq not jumped into the fray. Ibrahim has now been made a covering candidate for Siraj.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2015.