ISALMABAD: While Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry has become the first cabinet member from Islamabad in 20 years, celebrations of his elevation are turning sour as his own party comrades on Saturday took to streets against him.

Dr Fazal has been given the portfolio of minister of state for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD). He is the second elected person from the federal capital to be inducted in the cabinet. Earlier, Haji Nawaz Khokhar was made the minister for science and technology in 1995, when he defected to the PPP after getting elected on the PML-N ticket.

However, local people belonging to the ruling PML-N do not seem happy with Dr Fazal’s induction into the cabinet as on Saturday they held a protest demonstration close to his residence against his alleged malpractices.

Protesters accuse Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry of deliberately ignoring party workers in award of tickets for the LG polls

The protest was organised by an unknown group, ‘Tehreek Insidad-i- Qabza Group’ or ‘drive against land mafia’, and led by Raja Ataur Rehman Shahzad, an old-time PML-N worker.

“We have decided to contest the local government elections under the banner of an independent panel which comprises all the PML-N workers,” Mr Shahzad told the protesters. “Our longtime affiliation with the party has been compromised in the hands of the land mafia.”

The protesters accused Dr Fazal, who is the MNA of the ruling party from NA-49, of deliberately ignoring the party cadre in awarding tickets for the LG polls.

Prominent among the participants of the protest was Ashraf Gujjar, who was a PML-N candidate from NA-48 in the 2013 by-elections.

“All four prominent land mafia groups have formed a corporate limited here under the banner of PML-N,” Mr Gujjar said. “But this is not fair for the workers of the party and the residents of the city.”

He identified the four land mafias of Islamabad as Taji Khokhar, Malik Bari, Anjum Aqeel and Dr Tariq Fazal.

It was stated that the PML-N candidate for UC 15 (Loi Bher) chairman was Malik Yaqoob, a nephew of Malik Bari, while the PML-N candidate for UC 22 (Chak Shazad) was Chaudhry Manzoor, who had been a PPP office-bearer in the Rawalpindi city.

Incidentally, Mr Gujjar was a part of the PML-N ticket-awarding committee along with Anjum Aqeel and Dr Fazal. However, he left the committee soon after it was formed two months ago.

Mr Aqeel is an old rival of Mr Gujjar as both have been vying for the party ticket for NA-48 in the next elections.

Mr Aqeel said Ashraf Gujjar was making a mockery of the party by creating a scene out of nothing.

“We have tried to accommodate many people who are locally strong but had shifted sides in the general elections,” Mr Aqeel said.

When contacted, Dr Fazal told Dawn that the decision to award tickets had been taken after detailed deliberations and keeping in view the political situation of the area.

The PML-N has fielded the highest number of candidates whereas the PPP has the lowest number. But the fact is that a large number of PPP workers are contesting under the PML-N banner.

The PPP cadre was also divided in two main groups in the NA-49 area: one group supported by the Bukharis of Malpur and the other by Khokhars.

It has been witnessed in many union councils in NA-49 that the PML-N panel has workers belonging to both the groups of the PPP, PML-N and even some independent opponents of the PML-N in general elections under the same banner.

However, the party leaders defended the decisions on the ground that a majority of UCs in NA-49 were located in the rural areas where the mindset of voters was different from those in the settled areas.

“There was a serious issue to be considered: Either we lose all the seats by contesting from our panel or we get our people through so that party cadre remains alive in politics,” said Sibtul Hassan Bukhari, the PPP district Islamabad president.

Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the president of the PPP city chapter, also said many diehard workers were respected by the leadership but they did not have the capacity to win elections.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015