Workers piqued by PPP defeat in LG polls

PESHAWAR: The workers are concerned at the poor performance of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which suffered its worst defeat in the first phase of local government elections in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “We could not win a single mayoral seat in any district, not even in our strongholds,” said an infuriated activist.

According to him, a new political party under the leadership of a former lawmaker Shah, Jee Gul Afridi, managed to win three seats of councillors.

He maintained that the deplorable aspect of the entire saga was the silence adopted by the central and provincial leadership. “They are acting as if nothing has happened,” he remarked. They were least bothered to know the causes of the crushing defeat of the party, he said, adding, even the Jamaat-e-Islami and Mazdoor Kisan Party had managed to grab some seats.

Out of total tehsils in Peshawar, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) got four, Awami National Party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured one each but the PPP miserably failed.

However, only the Peshawar city and Charsadda party organisations were dissolved after the elections.

Former provincial minister Liaquat Shabab from Nowshera resigned due to the wrong policies and decisions of the provincial office-bearers.

The ideological workers posed a question as to whether it was not the responsibility of the provincial office-bearers to resign over the poor performance of the party in the local government elections.

They said the central leadership should have constituted an inquiry committee to know the causes of the defeat like the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) did.

The disappointed workers held the provincial level office-bearers responsible for the existing state of affairs in KP and all those who had nominated such an “incompetent cabinet” for them.

“The central leadership should have nominated an educated and experienced person with strong family background so that he could match the leadership of other political parties,” a worker said.

He said that the national leaders of many major political parties belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was an important and sensitive province.

“The party’s top leadership should have kept in mind the changing political situation in Afghanistan, which affects the politics in Pakistan particularly in KP. Contrary to the ground realities,” he added.

The PPP workers questioned the credibility of the provincial level office-bearers.

The result was obvious and the central leadership was equally responsible for the results, they added.

They maintained that the opportunists were awarded tickets instead of genuine and dedicated workers, adding that the “electables” were now considering switching over to other political parties.

The workers complained the central leadership did not appoint charismatic personalities to head the party in KP and did not seek input from the workers before taking a decision.

There was no proper party organization, nor any organized election campaign for the party’s candidates, they said, adding that only a few Facebook champions were engaged to show their performance on social media.

Referring to the provincial office-bearers, the workers asked the central leadership as to which one among them could win an election in his own constituency.

They asked as to why the central leadership took such irresponsible decisions and why the genuine reservations of the workers were ignored.

After facing a crushing defeat, all the responsible should have resigned from their respective offices but that did not happen.

They suggested holding workers’ conventions to listen to the grievances of the party workers.

They recalled that Benazir Bhutto Shaheed used to convene such conventions.

They said the party should brace for another setback in the second phase of local bodies’ elections if the workers were not mobilized and taken into confidence.

They observed that the party could not be run like the pattern of Sindh, adding that the central leadership should keep in mind the Pakhtun culture and traditions.

The workers observed that the PPP did not play the role of opposition like the JUIF, which took a solid stance on national issues.

They said the PPP would have to adopt a clear-cut policy instead of compromising on principles.

The engagement with the establishment, they said, had affected their vote-bank and would do so in future if clear policies were not adopted, they said.

The workers noted that the central leadership should not allow a few individuals and opportunists to hijack the entire party for their own stakes.

They said the workers had not rendered sacrifices for these few individuals, who earned bad names for the party during their party government.

Without naming anyone, they said the PPP ministers, advisers had earned money and usurped rights of the workers but no action was taken against them.

These people run party affairs like family business and that was not acceptable to workers and that was the reason sincere workers stayed away from their candidates, they added. They demanded dissolution of all the party organizations and holding of workers’ conventions and reorganised the party with the consultation of PPP activists.