CHAKWAL: When Maha Raja Tareen and her father joined PTI in February 2012, the party felt strengthened in Choa Saidan Shah tehsil as it did not have any prominent figure at that time.

But now Ms Tareen and her father, Raja Munawar Ahmad, both former MPAs, feel ignored as the party did not consider them for the Punjab Assembly. Mr Ahmad, who was elected MPA on a PPP ticket in 1970, had applied for PP-22 this year but the PTI picked Raja Tariq Mehmood Afzal.

Mr Ahmad served as adviser to the Punjab chief minister during 1973-75, adviser on local government to former president Ziaul Haq from 1981 to 85 and special assistant to Punjab chief minister during 1993-95.

Maha Raja Tareen and her father joined PTI in 2012 but neither of them was picked for Punjab Assembly

After Musharraf’s coup in 1999, he joined the PML-Q and his daughter was appointed MPA on a reserved seat in 2002.

In February 2013, when Imran Khan visited Chakwal in a bid to strengthen the party, Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz also joined the party.

Later the PTI chief visited Kot Rajgan village in Choa Saidan Shah where he addressed a gathering at the residence of Mr Ahmad.

“My father and I worked hard for the party in a PML-N-dominated tehsil where the PTI did not have any sound footing,” Ms Tareen told Dawn.

She said she participated in PTI’s maiden public gathering in Quetta in April 2012 and also addressed the party’s sit-in in Islamabad in Aug 2014. This time, Ms Tareen was confident that the party would consider her for a reserved seat in the Punjab Assembly but her name was not included in the priority list. Instead, Asia Amjad, a new face, was picked from Chakwal city. Ms Tareen and her father blamed PTI’s local leadership for ignoring them.

“Our area is facing a number of problems and needs one of its own natives as its representative but unfortunately the newly-elected MPA of the PML-N does not belong to our constituency as his village is located in PP-23 while the PTI also chose Raja Tariq Mehmood who hails from Chakwal tehsil,” said Mr Ahmad.

Born on Feb 25, 1976, Ms Tareen did graduation in Political Science from Kinnaird College Lahore in 1996. She did MBA in 1999 from University of Wyoming in US and also got LLB degree from University of Punjab in 2011.

When contacted, PTI Vice President North and newly-elected MNA Aamer Kayani told Dawn that Ms Tareen did not spend much time in her native area which was why she was not considered for a reserved seat.

Senior Vice President North and newly-elected MPA Raja Yasir Humayun also said he had asked Ms Tareen to become active in the area for the party but she failed.

“I asked her that I would recommend her name if she gets active in the area for the party but she didn’t do so. That was why I did not recommend her name and picked Asia Amjad, who worked hard for the party,” Mr Yasir added.

But Ms Tareen denied any such offer. “No party leader ever asked me for a reserved seat,” she added.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2018