Day 9: Butterflies, honey and bitter sectarianismLocations: Kalar Kahar, Tala Gang, Mial, Musakhel, Ramhel
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The road from Kalar Kahar to Tala Gang is exceptionally beautiful, especially during this time of the year. You get to know what 'spring is in the air' truly means. I saw many honey bee farmers along the road; they are another 'gypsy' tribe that follows butterflies and moves places in search of flowers.
I stopped to talk politics with one of them, only to discover that they are not allowed to. They are Afghan nationals. Ziarat Gul, who is around 40, was born in Pakistan. His family is completely integrated here and this country is where he toils to make a living. How easy is it for us to ignore them? It makes me feel guilty.
There are so many who sermonise us on rewarding expatriate Pakistanis with voting rights for they send us dollars and euros. But those doing hard labour here to create rupees are not worth any consideration. I think it is another case of legally effected political exclusion which must end. It is only a matter of accepting it since they are already integrated into economy. Meet Ziarat Gul:
Adam Khan was, however, born in Afghanistan but when he came here in 1968 he was a young boy. Now, he is a grandfather. He wasn't comfortable communicating in Urdu and I don't know even a few words of Pashto. But we decided to give it a shot, discussed some questions and decided some queues. Here is my first interview in Pashto:
The first thing that greeted me in the town of Tala Gang was an imambargah with a massive gate. I picked many signs indicating that sectarianism here has a prominent place in political discourse. I decided to hear it from the horse's mouth and was able to find a way. This is what Malik Masood Ahmed, president Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba) tehsil Tala Gang has to say about the sectarian strife in this town, its impact on politics and their political alliance with Muslim League - Nawaz.
Red in the political campaigns is counter balanced by adequate splashes of green but here in some the corners of Tala Gang, it was the dominant theme. I met Awami Workers Party candidate for NA 61 Commander (R) Ayub Malik. I was surprised to know that the provincial assembly candidate with him, for PP 22, is a maulana. I wanted to meet him but he first evaded and then refused and I don't intend to present one side of the story.
Ayub Malik's main election office is a small room attached to a solar panel business run by his brother. Interestingly, his party's election symbol is a bulb. Electricity in this energy-starved country is a politically charged issue. I talked to Saeed Malik who runs the solar business.
This area is a land of limited economic opportunities. There are some resources available but it needs investment to tap in to these and in most cases, the finances required are beyond the means of the common people.
I stopped over for a nice lunch at a friend's home in village Mial. This is the site of a newly constructed small dam as well. The dam built some years ago is not being utilised optimally. I went to see the dam and asked Haji Muhammad Nazir, a farmer from the nearby village Dhurnal, whether the demand for small dams figures in local politics here.
When I left Kalar Kahar, I crossed three large trucks brimming with all genres of truck art and moving in a row. I frequently stopped over and many a times when I resumed my journey, I met the same trio with marked overloading of red ornamentation. We finally met at a truck hotel near Musakhel.
They had a crew of nine, all from the Zhob district of Balochistan. Soiled and unkempt, they were a complete contrast to 'the road princes' they drove. We had tea together and then I talked to Nizamuddin, who seemed like the captain of the convoy, about whether truckers cast votes?
