Dispute over ticket distribution causes rifts in Jamaat-i-Islami

PESHAWAR: Personal interests have overwhelmed party discipline this time in the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) as a number of its members in various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have started quitting it to join other parties and contest the upcoming election.

Many activists have raised the standard of revolt in the party and submitted nomination papers against the candidates already announced by the JI leadership.

The most serious case is the submission of nomination papers by a local office-bearer and old worker of the party against the JI head Sirajul Haq in his home constituency. No such example has been seen before.

The party is facing severe internal rifts in scores of constituencies of both the provincial and national assembly. Some serious challenges have also been witnessed after the revival of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the five party religio-political alliance having the JI and JUI-F as its major components.

The most alarming situation that the party is facing is in Lower Dir district, the stronghold of JI, where internal rifts have surfaced on almost every constituency for both the national and provincial assemblies.

The JI district deputy general secretary, Shafiullah, has announced to contest election on National Assembly constituency, NA 7 Lower Dir-II, against his party head Sirajul Haq for what he argued was his (Sirajul Haq's) inability to overcome the growing concerns of senior party members in the district.

The party leaders, however, believed that Shafiullah has been misguided by some 'anti-JI elements' and the situation would be normalised soon.

There has also been great resentment against the former finance minister Muzaffar Sayyid who has been given the JI ticket once again to contest from PK-15 Dir-III. The local leaders of the party were unhappy with him when he was the minister. They believed that he neglected the party members and extended favours to other parties. The local JI shura had not supported the award of ticket to him. However, no one in the party came openly to submit nomination papers against him.

On PK-14 Dir II, the party has awarded ticket to Dr Zakirullah, sparking resentment of the local activists. Dr Zakirullah was elected as member of the provincial assembly on the JI ticket a few times. In 2008, he did not support the party decision to boycott the polls, quit the party, joined Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and got elected as member provincial assembly on PPP ticket. In 2013, too, he contested the election on PPP ticket but lost. Two years back, he rejoined the JI and was given the ticket against the recommendation of the local unit of the party, which had proposed the name of Dr Bashir for the seat.

The decision annoyed Dr Bashir, who enjoys the support of local leaders of the party and he submitted nomination papers as an independent candidate. A similar situation exists on the newly created provincial assembly seat, PK-13 Dir-I, where the JI has awarded the ticket to Shad Nawaz Khan while another senior member of the party Daud Said has submitted nomination papers against him in independent capacity.

The situation has forced the JI leadership to convene an emergency meeting of the district shura of Lower Dir, which would be specially attended by the provincial president of the party Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan. The party leaders are hopeful that the matter would be resolved in the meeting.

Problems have also surfaced in some constituencies in the neighbouring Upper Dir district. On the National Assembly seat NA-5, a member of JI and offspring of the influential Sahibzada family, Sahibzada Sibghatullah, recently joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and is determined to contest election against his cousin Sahibzada Tariqullah, the former JI MNA.

The influential Malik family in Upper Dir is also suffering from internal rift as the former JI MPA Malik Hayat Khan has stood against the party decision to award the ticket for PK 11 Dir-II, to his cousin Malik Azam Khan, the son of former MPA Malik Behram Khan. Malik Hayat has submitted the nomination papers as an independent candidate, but he may win the support of PTI.

In Peshawar, the district vice-president of the party Fazlullah Daudzai and former provincial information secretary of the party, Israrullah Advocate quit the party and joined Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Fazlullah Daudzai will contest election from the platform of PML-N on PK-67. Israrullah, his brother, is also expected to contest the polls on NA-28 Peshawar-II on PML-N ticket.

Known as the 'Ullah brothers' in the party, the family had long affiliation with the JI. The family, however, was not happy with the revival of MMA as they had no chance of getting the ticket being part of the alliance. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has strong claim on this seat as its candidate Asif Iqbal Daudzai once won the seat in 2002 and became a provincial minister and lost it twice by low margins.

Perhaps the cleverest among the JI members, who has great desire for contesting the polls, is Engineer Amir Alam Khan. He quit the party when he sensed that he may not be given the ticket for contesting election for the provincial assembly from Nowshera. Before long, he joined a smaller component party of the MMA - Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUP). Now, he is quite sure to get the MMA ticket from his desired Nowshera constituency.