10 months after winning polls,Aizazul Mulk Afkari takes oath as MPA

PESHAWAR: Ten months after winning the by-election, Aizazul Mulk Afkari, member-elect of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly from PK-95 constituency in Lower Dir district, would finally take oath today.

Though he was concerned that the people of his constituency didn’t have representation in the provincial assembly after the seat was vacated by Sirajul Haq on his election as the Jamaat-e-Islami chief and later as Senator in March 2015, he couldn’t do much for the electorate until he was notified as the elected MPA.

Aizazul Mulk emerged victorious against the ANP candidate in the by-election held in May 2015, but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) refused to notify his election due to non-participation of women in the election. The ECP later cancelled the election and issued schedule for re-polling.

Aizaz Mulk moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the decision and finally the case was decided in his favour on March 10. The PHC directed the ECP to issue notification of his victory forthwith. The ECP issued the notification on March 14.

According to Aizazul Mulk, they never barred women from taking part in the electoral process. “None of the political parties made any such agreement or verbal commitment. The women themselves stayed away from the polling,” he said.

He reminded that nine general elections have been held since 1970 and the women in the constituency never took part in the polls either as candidate or voter. He added that they respected the local traditions and don’t force women to stay away from the process or come out to vote.

“I believe if barring women from vote is violation of law, forcing her to come out of her home at cast vote is equally a violation. I will rather call it a crime,” he argued.Active in politics since he was a school student, Aizazul Mulk is currently the JI’s district president for Lower Dir. It was his first time to take part in the electoral politics. Before the by-election, he had not contested election even for the union council.

Hailing from Kombat village in Lower Dir, he got his early education from his hometown. He did his matriculation from Government High School in Samarbagh and graduation from Government College Timergara. He didn’t study after graduation, but remained active in students’ politics.

He had joined Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT) in 1984 when he was studying in school. He remained provincial chief of the organisation from 1995-97. He is fond of literature and has written two books in Pashto, including one of poetry and another of prose.

He subsequently joined the JI. Presently, he is the party’s president for Lower Dir. Aizazul Mulk expressed strong commitment to do whatever he could for the welfare of his people and uplift of his area.

He praised his party leader Sirajul Haq, who served twice as provincial senior minister, for launching many development projects in his constituency. He said his prime focus would be to complete the ongoing projects and bring more for his constituency.

Aizazul Mulk said that education and health were his priority areas. He pledged to overcome the deficiency of teachers in the schools and medical staff in the hospitals in his area. He added that more roads would be constructed and water supply schemes would be initiated. “Loadshedding is another big problem faced by the people of my area. I will try my best to overcome it,” he stressed.

He said his constituency was badly affected by earthquake and floods and the government support to the affected people was negligible. He urged the government to take immediate steps and provide substantial compensation to the earthquake affected people.