Most mainstream parties ignored Peshawar this time

PESHAWAR: This is probably first time in the political history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial capital that none of the leaders of mainstream political parties, except for  Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, bothered to come to Peshawar and hold election rallies.

There used to be heavy political rallies in the past in Peshawar and national leaders would come and address them.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif used to come to Peshawar during their election campaigns and attract big crowds here.

Former primer minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ( PMLN) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif had complained twice to the Pakhtuns, saying they supported Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and exported it to Punjab.

In his entire election campaign, he paid two visits of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and chose to address voters of the  constituency in Mansehra district from where he is contesting elections and is likely to win.

The second place he selected to visit and hold an election rally was Swat, where PMLN provincial president Engineer Amir Muqam Khan had undertaken development projects and strengthened the party.

The PMLN leadership never focused on the party in KP and that’s why it is no longer seen in the competition in the province.

Most of the party senior leaders preferred not to participate in the elections, apparently due to lack of interest of the party central leadership in KP.

Someone might have misguided Nawaz Sharif that since PTI had ruled KP for  over nine years and it would be difficult for him to attract maximum supporters to his rally in Peshawar.

One would not complain if Nawaz Sharif had not come to Peshawar  for some  genuine concerns.

The Peshawarites had felt it seriously and asked each other  as why the Pakhtun politicians including Maulana Fazlur Rahman, former chief minister and central president of the Awami National Party, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Aimal Wali Khan, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Amir Muqam Khan, Pervez Khattak, Mahmood Khan, etc ignored this historic city of their province.

All these leaders held political gatherings in other cities but they stayed away from Peshawar for reasons best known to them.

Since none of them  were contesting election from Peshawar, therefore they didn’t visit the city to hold rallies. They spent more time in their respective hometowns and constituencies.

As compared to other politicians, Pervez Khattak of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians is nearer to Peshawar and is  claiming to become the chief minister at any cost but he didn’t hold a single political rally in Peshawar.

Security issue used to be a major concern for some of the political leaders but Peshawar remained peaceful during the election campaign and no incident of terrorism was reported in the past few months. 

Better coordination among the law enforcement agencies,  particularly the police and military,  helped maintain order in the provincial capital that enabled the candidates to freely run their campaigns.

There is no doubt that PTI has still vote bank in Peshawar and can win some seats but it doesn’t mean that other political parties have no chance of winning elections.

Two major political parties,  including Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl are ecpected to win some seats of the national and provincial assemblies from Peshawar.