PESHAWAR: PPP workers unhappy over ticket allotment
By Mohammed Riaz
PESHAWAR, Nov 30: PPP workers have opposed their party’s decision to allot tickets to Shahzada Nisar Gilani for PF-90, instead of Fida Ali advocate, an old party guard from Upper Chitral.
“Our elders had been against princes and supported the PPP for its pro-people manifesto. But the PPP was always awarding tickets to the so-called princes,” complained Haroon Ali, a PPP worker from Torkoh area of Chitral.
The PPP nominated Salim Khan for PF-89.
The activist claimed that the party had a big following in Darosh, Chitral city and Garm Chashma, the three tehsils of Lower Chitral. Similarly, he said, the PPP had been a dominant force in Mukoh, Torkoh and Mastuj, the tehsils of Upper Chitral. Even though the vote bank of the party was bigger than other political and religious groups in the area, it acted against aspirations of its followers, he added.
Chitral is the biggest and poorest district of the NWFP and is considered a stronghold of the Pakistan People’s Party. A number of PPP activists regret that the party had always acted against the will of the people.
Azhar Shah, another PPP activist from Chitral, said their elders were diehard supporters of the PPP, but regretted that now things had changed. “There is a great difference between the anti-imperialism stance of the party witnessed in the seventies and pro-imperialism in 2007,” he said.
It is feared that the prevailing discontent among activists and the fast approaching harsh winter might result in a defeat for the PPP from its bastion. Chitral was a princely state up till 1969, with ordinary people similar to those found in neighbouring princely states such as Swat, Dir and Bajaur. With the PPP’s popularity as a champion of social change in the country, the people of Chital endorsed the party manifesto.
According to the past record, the PPP had always worked for its own defeat by putting up guest stars in different general elections. In 1988, Begum Nusrat Bhutto contested from Chitral and bagged the National Assem-bly seat with a huge margin.
