High hopes attached to president’s visit

THE Frontier people, particularly the coalition government, affected families from Swat, displaced people of Bajaur and other troubled agencies and candidates running for the next month’s Senate elections have great expectations from President Asif Ali Zardari, who arrived here on his maiden visit to Peshawar on Friday.

The pestering Swat issue has become a test case for the federal and provincial governments. The coalition government has used all its available options but failed to restore calm in the once peaceful valley. Its MPAs hailing from Swat have been the main target of militants since the eruption of violence in the district.

According to the ANP circles, militants have succeeded in terrorising and isolating party leaders from their electorates. They (ANP leaders) cannot hold public meetings, but their rival politico-religious organisations are free to organise such political programmes across the country.

Even both the factions of Pakistan Muslim League do not feel any threat from the religious outfits. According to ANP workers, the militants, equipped with hi-tech weapons, are after ANP office-bearers in Swat valley and surrounding districts. They term it as “an organised witch-hunting of secular forces”.

No one knows when this gory drama in Swat will come to an end but the affected residents of Swat have high hopes of Zardari’s two-day visit to the province.

The enactment of Nizam-i-Adl Regulation is one of the issues. The coalition government is in favour of its early enforcement. If federal government has some reservations owing to the global pressures, as Gen (retd) Pervez Musharrf had on the Hasba Bill, it will not solve the matter.

The uprooted tribesmen of Bajaur agency, staying in the refugee camps in Peshawar and Nowshera, do have expectations from President Zardari who along with senior officials of interior ministry will discuss “insurgency” like situation with the Frontier cabinet.

The PPP local leadership, which has yet not felt the heat of Swat and Bajaur fires, argues that the replacement of governor with a PPP man has become inevitable. They (PPP leaders) think that their man at the Governor’s House will deliver, but they don’t know it is a state matter than a government concern, which involves approval of many quarters.

The ANP is happy with the sitting governor. If it is asked for any change, it will prefer to see taciturn Rahimdad Khan, a former PPP Frontier chief, in the saddle than anyone else. Constitutionally, NWFP governor is empowered to deal with the tribal agencies’ affairs, but he alone does not call the shots. There are some other players who do have stakes in the Fata.

For various reasons, late Zulfikar Bhutto preferred to install retired military generals as provincial governors than civilian ones. At present, restoration of normalcy is the main issue. The Fata situation is a by-product of the unending war in Afghanistan and it will, according to the analysts, continue unless a lasting peace dawn upon war-battered Afghanistan.

The Senate election is certainly an issue for the coalition partners. The PPP, according to the insiders, wants to get its five senators elected in the next month’s election, but ANP, which has biggest chunk of lawmakers, is sticking to its guns. It wants to bag six seats as its share in the 124-member house. The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), which has 14 lawmakers, says it has demanded two senators from allies; if it fails it has many other options. The independent candidates, however, have an eye on the JUI herd.