PESHAWAR: As the general election draws near and relative peace has been restored in the province the political parties have intensified their efforts for fresh memberships, restructuring organisational units and holding public meetings.

The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have faced many hardships during the past over one decade due to the menace of terrorism and thus many had to avoid taking part in political activities.

The public meetings held recently by Awami National Party in Peshawar to mark the death anniversaries of Abdul Wali Khan and Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan), Pakistan Muslim League-N at Peshawar and Qaumi Watan Party in Charsadda to observe Hayat Mohammad Khan Sherpao’s 43th death anniversary proved that peace has returned to the province to a great extent.

Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl are regularly holding events and have regular contact with people, thanks to prevalence of relative calm.

The other parties, especially those focusing on regional issues, are holding gatherings off and on, but Pakistan Peoples Party and PML-N, which claim to be national level parties, rarely show their strength.

PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari paid several visits to Peshawar during 2017 but did not speak to a public meeting and remained confined to corner meetings only.

The party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, for the first time had spoken to a public meeting on eve of by-elections on NA-4, Peshawar, in support of his candidate in Badbher but the public participation was not encouraging. The party’s local leadership can better analyse as to what can be the reasons for such poor participation.

Though both the parties have national level stature they have paid no attention to their reorganisation and maintained status quo during the past over one decade.

The PPP has time and again announced its reorganisation, but never paid serious attention towards it during the past many years, mainly due to frequent replacement of the provincial leadership.

However, both the parties have started mass contact drives after reshuffling office-bearers at different levels.

One shortcoming is very common in both the parties and that is lack of teamwork at the provincial level. One can hardly know names of the provincial level office-bearers of these parties except the provincial presidents.

The two mainstream parties have also set a bad precedent by allotting offices to the people on basis of their wealth, closeness to the top leadership thus, putting aside the ideology and loyalty. That is why holders of offices fail to play role in strengthening the parties.

The PML-N held a big public meeting in Peshawar which was addressed by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, Amir Muqam and others. It was the second show of the party in the province within a short interval as Mr Sharif had also addressed a public gathering in Haripur.

Everyone knows that in Hazara division the PML-N has vast vote bank but in Pakhtun-dominated districts its position is not so strong. The credit goes to Amir Muqam for enabling the party to hold such a big gathering in the provincial capital, which was meant to dent support for rival parties, particularly Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2018