Three PTM leaders vying for NA seats

PESHAWAR: Three main leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) are running for the National Assembly seats from their respective tribal districts in the general election 2018.

The PTM leader Manzoor Ahmed Pashteen had announced that any worker of their movement who contested the election could not become a member of its core committee.

Mohsin Dawar, one of the three PTM leaders contesting for the National Assembly, is a candidate from the NA-48 North Waziristan.

He was chairman of the ANP-affiliated National Youth Organisation (NYO) before PTM’s emergence. ANP’s central President removed him from the position due to his active involvement in the activities of the PTM.

The administration of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) imposed a three-month ban on Mohsin Dawar’s entry to his native area in the first week of June for allegedly instigating people through provocative speeches.

Mohsin Dawar challenged the order in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), which set aside the ban on his entry to North Waziristan.

The ANP has not fielded any candidate in the NA-48 constituency in North Waziristan. This could benefit Mohsin Dawar, though some of the other candidates also have solid vote-bank due to their tribal and party affiliation.

However, the ANP candidate Muhammad Ayaz Wazir would contest election against PTM leader Ali Wazir on NA-50 in South Waziristan and Shahi Khan Sherani would run for the NA-51 Frontier Regions (FRs) against Abdullah Nangyal Bhittani.

Ali Wazir, one of the senior leaders of PTM, had lost the previous election in 2013 to Ghalib Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). They will face each other again while the PTI and MMA have also fielded candidates. The constituency was previously known as NA-41.

Ali Wazir told The News that he had lost the election by 381 votes and had filed an appeal with the Election Commission of Pakistan. “My appeal has yet to be decided.”

Ali Wazir said that he was not interested in contesting the 2018 election but changed his mind due to pressure from the people of his constituency.

“The administration has imposed section 144 that will cause problems for the candidates to launch their campaign,” he said, adding, that a free and fair election would ensure the masses’ trust in the electoral process and would bring true representatives of the people to the assemblies.

Abdullah Nangyal Bhittani has also started his election campaign for NA-51 Frontier Regions (FRs). The constituency comprises six FR regions and is considered a difficult constituency due to its non-contiguous nature. The constituency comprises Frontier Regions (now known as sub-divisions) of Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank.

He had contested election from the same constituency in May 2013 and secured 4,131 votes.

Qaisar Jamal of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who had got 11,328 votes and was declared winner from the constituency in 2013, is also contesting the 2018 election.

In the previous election, 48,217 votes were polled on NA-47 (now NA-51) against the total registered 121,265 voters. The percentage of votes polled was 39.76 percent in the 2013 election.