Ubaidullah Mayar changes parties five times

PESHAWAR: Former lawmaker Ubaid Ullah Mayar is a young man, but he has already changed parties five times.

This is the kind of unprincipled politics that has become the order of the day in present-day Pakistan.Ubaidullah Mayar, belonging to Mayar village in Mardan rejoined the Awami National Party (ANP) on Saturday in presence of the party’s provincial president Ameer Haider Hoti. As is the ritual, Hoti put the red ANP cap on Mayar’s head amid clapping by those present at the latter’s hujra. One doesn’t know as to when Mayar will decide that he needs a different cap and a new political party.

Mayar had started his political career from the ANP, the party of his elders, but was angered when the party didn’t give him the ticket to contest for the union council nazim position some years ago. He joined the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), abruptly associating with an Islamic party after quitting the secular ANP.

Mayar’s association with the JUI-F was brief as he joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the hope of getting its ticket to contest the May 2013 general election. He got the ticket and won the provincial assembly seat due to the pro-Imran Khan wave then sweeping Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

For five years, Mayar enjoyed the perks and benefits that come with being an MPA. He now had authority, development funds were at his disposal in his constituency, and could oblige people with jobs.

His first major test of loyalty to the PTI was in March 2015 when the election for Senate was held. Imran Khan accused Mayar, along with 19 other MPAs of his party from the province, of selling their votes instead of voting for the Senate candidates fielded by the PTI. He alleged that his party’s lawmakers were offered up to Rs40 million for the Senate vote. The MPAs were asked to reply to show-cause notices.

Mayar was among the lawmakers who didn’t reply to the show-cause notice as they denied selling their votes. Along with two other MPAs, Zahid Durrani from Mardan and Nagina Khan from Malakand, who too faced accusations of selling their votes in the Senate election, Mayar travelled to Lahore in April to meet Asif Ali Zardari and join the PPP. In fact, their decision not to reply to the show-cause notices and join the PPP weakened their case even though they continued to claim that they had voted for the PTI candidates in the Senate polls.

Mayar was expecting the PPP ticket to contest election for the provincial assembly from his constituency in Mardan. The PPP couldn’t oblige him as its old workers won’t have accepted this decision. Mayar was upset once again and the search for joining a new party began. There were just a few options left as he had already remained associated with quite a few parties. So he opted to rejoin the ANP, coming full circle from a journey that began in the ANP with stopovers in the JUI-F, PTI, and PPP.

With ideology and principles taking a back seat in politics, it isn’t surprising that young politicians like Mayar are changing parties while seeking greener pastures. This is now becoming the norm rather than the exception.