Chitral contest: Musharraf’s tunnel vision

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2013.

NA-32 Chitral, a relatively unknown electoral constituency in the far north of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), is going to make or mar former president Pervez Musharraf’s political fortunes.

Perhaps winning from Chitral is the last shimmer of hope the embattled ex-military strongman has been left with amid a variety of challenges ranging from court cases to Taliban threats.

On Sunday, the returning officer (RO) accepted General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s nomination papers from NA-32 constituency – the sole National Assembly seat from the district.

With registered voters of about 197,022 in 2008, Chitral district offers a unique mix of Pakistani politics. Until recently, it was regarded a stronghold of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and politics was largely secular.

However, now the scenario seems to have changed as the religious right has made great inroads in this district, particularly with the spectacular rise of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), which came at the cost of Jamaat Islami (JI).

Chitral’s politics were thus far being dominated by Shahzada Mohyuddin, a member of the former royal family of Chitral. Mohyuddin, beginning his political career back in the 1985 local government elections as district council chairman, has dominated district politics for about three decades. In 2008, he was elected as Member National Assembly (MNA) from the district and polled about 33,278 votes on the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q)’s ticket. His closest rival was Sardar Muhammed Khan, an independent candidate who polled 31,120 votes, while PPP’s Shahzada Ghaulam Mohyuddin managed to secure third position.

This time around Shahzada Mohyuddin is not contesting elections due to illness and his advancing years. His political legacy has fallen into the hands of his son Shahzada Khalid Pervez, who is heading the district chapter of Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML). Khalid Pervez himself is contesting the elections for the Provincial Assembly constituency of PK 98, Chitral I.

It is also interesting that the political fortunes of both the Pervez and Musharraf’s are at stake here. Both are trying to complement each other one way or another. Musharraf enjoys a soft spot among the local population for initiating work on Lowari Tunnel.

Until the partial opening of Loweri Tunnel, they had to brave avalanches, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of locals in subzero temperatures or they had to make a long detour into Afghanistan through Bajaur Agency.

An ordinary Chitrali considers Mushrraf his benefactor for initiating work on this tunnel in 2005.

The Contest

Mushrraf will contest against JI’s Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Rehman, PPP’s Hakim Khan Advocate and PTI’s Abdul Latif. At the district level, JUI-F and JI had been in contact over seat adjustment, wherein Maulana Abdur Rehman was to withdraw his candidacy in favour of Maulana Abdul Akbar, while JI was to withdraw its provincial assembly candidate Maulana Sher Aziz. Whether these parties go ahead with proposed arrangement or not, JI’s Akbar is the real candidate Mushrraf has to face, as PPP’s candidate also has a very small chance of staging a comeback.

Furthermore, many PPP workers across the district are not happy with the award of tickets, while former Chitral Town nazim Sartaj Ahmed Khan, who was an aspirant for PPP’s ticket, is contesting as an independent candidate.

Akbar also has his own claims for Lowari Tunnel, as in early 2000s, he led a series of protests calling for the construction of the tunnel from the platform of Tanzeem Tahaufz-e-Huqooq-e-Chitral.

Another important factor is a substantial Ismali vote in Upper Chitral and Lotkuh areas of the district, which is likely to go to Mushrraf.

Other view

Dr Inayatullah Faizi, a writer and columnist from the district opines that the ground realities are against Mushrraf.

“Shahzada Mohyuddin invited him back in 2010 to contest elections from the district. However, much has changed since then,” he told the Express Tribune from Chitral.

Faizi considers Mushrarraf’s Chitral election bid as doomed on following counts: in 2010 when he invited Mushrraf to contest elections from the district, Mohyuddin was in good health and now he has fallen ill. Secondly, councillors were with him; however, now they are back in PPP’s camp. Thirdly, work on Lowari Tunnel had stopped previously and was restarted recently.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2013.