LANDI KOTAL: The results of July 25 general elections show political maturity of the tribal electorates and breaking away of them with some decades-old traditions of adhering to the whims and aspirations of family and tribal heads.

Ten out of the total 12 MNAs elected from seven tribal districts and six former frontier regions have affiliations with at least three political parties -- PTI, JUI-F and PPP. One of the two independent candidates, Mohsin Dawar, was only recently expelled from ANP on disciplinary grounds.

Observers believe that young activists of different political parties played a vital role in success of the poll candidates. These young and mostly educated tribal youth were not only behind a lively election campaign but also helped in creating awareness among people about the election process. They persuaded the otherwise reluctant tribesmen to exercise their right to vote in a sizable number.

Youth say goodbye to decades-old custom of abiding by elders’ decision

Political observers in the region say that the youth rebelled against the traditional family and tribal heads and voted for the candidate of their choice.

“The tribal elders or the family heads used to gather at a place and arrange a feast and make a so-called unanimous decision about supporting a candidate, most of the time a rich independent in the elections,”, Shams Momand, a political observer from Momand tribal district, told Dawn.

He said that such rebellious attitude of the youth was never entertained by the elders, who never involved the younger generation in making such vital decisions regarding polling votes in the elections. He added that women were the other victim of such undemocratic attitude of the tribal elders as their opinion was never sought on such important issues.

Bazaar Gul Afridi, a longtime critic of the infamous Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), said that the new tribal lawmakers would think for a hundred times if they ever tried to prefer their personal interests over their party interests.

“The newly elected MPs are under obligation to peruse the party line and abide by the party manifesto rather than sticking a deal individually,” he said.

Right to vote on adult franchise basis was granted to the people of the erstwhile Fata back in 1997. The same year the people of the region exercised this right for the first time. At least two candidates from Khyber and frontier regions, Abdul Latif Afridi and Momin Khan Afridi, respectively who had political affiliations with a nationalist party, were elected MNAs in the elections.

Prior to 1997, only a few thousands selected tribal elders were allowed to contest elections and cast their votes. Selling and purchasing of votes with that pattern of elections was a common norm in the tribal regions as ordinary people had no say in those elections. Political parties too had no role in the elections as almost all the pro-government Maliks were considered apolitical.

The Political Parties Act was extended to the region under a presidential ordinance in 2011 that not only allowed all the political parties to operate in the area but also contest elections for the 12 National Assembly seats for the first time in 2013. Only three out of the total 11 MNAs elected from the region had political affiliations. Elections on one constituency in Kurram were withheld owing to security reasons. The said constituency remained unrepresented till the end of the session of the previous government.

Naveed Ahmad Shinwari, head of Community Motivation and Appraisal Programme (CAMP), said that events occurred after the 9/11 also played an important role in influencing the mentality of tribesmen, especially local youth.

“Tribal youth consider political affiliation more important than tribal affiliation as the old norm has failed to save the region from extremism. The elders have also failed to fulfil their responsibilities,” he said.

Mr Shinwari said that the insurgency like situation and subsequent displacement taught many lessons to the militancy-affected people of Fata and they exhibited a clear departure from their decades-old customs by siding with the candidates, who followed a political ideology rather than abiding by obsolete tribal codes.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2018