As tenure of the present government is set to expire by end of this month, different political parties have started politicking to attract voters across Swat district.

On the one hand, outgoing ruling parties do not get tired of claiming credit for their successful projects and country’s development while trying to impress upon the people, on the other the parties which are out of government do not hesitate to term the performance of the ruling parties a complete failure.

Recently, almost all the major political parties except Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf held public meetings in Swat valley which were addressed by the parties’ heads and their central and provincial leaders.

On April 7, Jamaat-i-Islami held its workers convention and public meeting to show its strength at Makan Bagh ground in Mingora, which was addressed by party chief Sirajul Haq, provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad and its other leaders.

On April 2, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz held a public gathering at Kabal Ground which was addressed by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam and other central and provincial leaders.

Similarly, on April 14, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl also held its party’s power show at Matta. Party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman along with other central and provincial leaders addressed the public meeting.

On March 11, Awami National Party held its power show at Grassy Ground which was addressed by its chief Asfandyar Wali Khan. Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) also held a public meeting in Khwazakhela tehsil on April 13, which was addressed by its chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai.

Pakistan Peoples Party leaders, meanwhile, tried to revive their party in Swat once again and held a public meeting on May 9. PPP central leader Syed Khursheed Shah and member of the former Swat state Shehryar Amirzeb spoke on the occasion.

However, PTI, the ruling party in KP, is yet to hold its power show in Swat and it is expected that the party would soon announce the date for its public meeting. Interestingly, all the political parties that held public meetings focused on a single theme and seemed united against PTI. While the religious parties termed the PTI and its leader an agent of Jews and accused it of spreading vulgarity and taking away the youth farther from Islamic ethics, the nationalist groups claimed that the PTI and its leaders were corrupt and their government in the province had failed to deliver.

“In the recent political shows by different parties I realised that the main agenda of all was to censure PTI and Imran Khan. Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in his speech claimed that PTI was on the verge of permanent departure from KP and Swat as it built no new school, college, university or hospital,” Iqbal Ahmad Khan, a local political analyst, said.

The JI and JUI-F used the religious card against PTI and accused its leader Imran Khan of following Jewish agenda.

“As usual JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said nothing new in his speech in Swat and only repeated his stand that his party wanted implementation of Islamic sharia in the country. I think JUI-F and JI wanted to gain public sympathy by using religious card,” said Izhar Ali Khan, a civil society member, adding that he observed no positive remarks in the speeches of JUI-F and JI leaders for the country.

Political observers also mentioned the speeches of ANP and PkMAP chiefs in their public meetings held here and said that once again the nationalist leaders repeated their claims of serving Pakhtuns in the country. “Asfandyar and Mehmood Achakzai resorted to their old slogans and used the nationalist card. They tried to prove that only they were sincere with the Pakhtuns and all other parties were defending their ethnicities and ignored Pakhtuns,” said Aftab Ali, a civil society member, in Matta.

Nevertheless, some civil society activists praised both Asfandyar Wali and Mehmood Khan Achakzai for their stance against the Supreme Court decision to disqualify former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was also debated by top leaders of the political parties as ANP, PPP and JI claimed that they supported the merger while JUI-F and PkMAP expressed reservations about it.

According to local political analysts, the different political parties successfully gathered their workers and held big power shows in Swat, but they ignored the most important section of silent voters.

“In Swat, the silent voters had always played key role in electing political parties in the past. They are the real power as they closely observe progress and development of the ruling parties and on the basis of their observation they decide to vote for a specific party,” said Rashid Ahmad, a political analyst in Mingora.

Others said that no political party seemed to get clear majority in Swat in the coming elections and once again a coalition government would be formed in KP.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2018