“WHEN there is disunity in a movement or a group — no matter how good and strong those people are — it withers as their energies are spent in pulling each other down. Can there be any differences in serving others? Differences emerge only when you become selfish,” says a framed saying of Bacha Khan hanging on wall of Bacha Khan Markaz, the secretariat of Awami National Party in Peshawar.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who rules the hearts of many till day and aptly remembered as Bacha Khan, sounds so relevant even today.

The entire wall looks some sort of gallery with photos of Pakhtun heroes, who served and earned name with their sword or with their wisdom and service. The photo gallery starting from Behlul Lodhi ,Sher Shah Suri, Pir Rokhan, Khushal Khan Khattak and others has photo of Bacha Khan, his son Khan Abdul Wali Khan and then his son AsfandyarWali Khan. There is no space for his son AimalWali Khan’s photo just perhaps ironically the wall ends there.

The party needs to see writing on the wall

There are photos and names from different centuries that stood out alone and then suddenly after Bacha Khan the photos start looking like those in any family album. The wall of fame ends there.

There is no space for leaders like Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Bashir Bilour, Bushra Gohar and AfrasiabKhattak or many faceless unrecognised Khudai Khidmatgars, who followed the philosophy of Bacha Khan without caring for any power or gains.

The disregard for its leaders and young workers is ailing ANP so that it lost the two previous elections.

ANP has recently suspended membership of its two most vocal leaders accusing them of creating divisions and confusion among the party workers with their ‘anti-party activities’. However, ANP itself fails to look within to know why its workers are ‘confused’ or ‘divided’ or rather losing interest in the party.

The party having earned ‘provincial autonomy’, province’s name as ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’ to actualise “Khpala Khawra , Khpal Ikhtiyar” also ignored the bad publicity it got despite loud and clear slogans on rickshaws hitting at those involved in ‘easy load’ while advising the party in power in the province between 2008-2013. Yet no one was punished despite a fact-finding and soul-searching session within the party after losing the elections.

Both the leading voices Bushra Gohar or lovingly called BG and Afrasiab Khattak have termed the allegations of involvement in ‘anti-party activities’ as vague and thus have replied to the party to come clear on which basis their membership was suspended. Both the leaders, who were side lined for some time, have pointed out the weaknesses that ANP itself have shown and is unable to rectify itself.

Youth finding ANP less and less appealing in the presence of more open forums and civil rights movement as being one big issue the party was adamantly ignoring was not said out loud in the party perhaps but social media was abuzz with it.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain ,who is general secretary of ANP, seems to be grooming his leader’s son AimalWali Khan, in a stern manner had said the emerging civil rights movement of youth was too violent and that was why ANP distanced itself from ‘them’ and was following ‘parliamentary politics’.

Just when ANP needed to groom and guide the youth — as Bushra Gohar and Afrasiab Khattak did through their social media handles — the party ironically blamed them for creating confusion and division among the party workers and suspended their membership.

ANP failed to see the reality that it was no more about dynastic politics or following a family it was about following the ideology in the face of issues the Pakhtuns as a nation are dealing with in the region. Bushar Gohar and Afrasiab Khattak got it but unfortunately ANP leadership refused to do so whether it was personal or some “external pressure from undemocratic forces” as was mentioned in BG’s reply. ANP needs to see the writing on the wall.

ANP on its own had been diluting its message. It had gradually and subtly done away with national songs, anthems, slogans and even its narrative of nationalism for last decade or so to fit in the ruling class. This dejected the ideological workers, especially youth, to slowly drift away.

The senior leaders and strong voices within the party — who had no family connection but only ideological relationship with ANP — like Bushra Gohar and Afrasiab Khattak tried to stick to “Bacha Khani” but in a vague manner just as the party had been shutting its young workers. It tried to shut them up too and that also without coming out in the public to clearly state the reasons for suspending their membership.

ANP needs introspection and not external scapegoats for the ‘divisions and confusions among the party workers’. In pursuit of real politick; the ANP leaders diluted their message so they lost their narrative and also an election. With losing relevance and connection to the youth, who went towards another rising and relevant civil rights movement, suspension of leading ideological and saner voices would leave behind ANP just a dynastic party with big names fit for frames on the wall.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2018