KHYBER: Tribal affiliations and personal influence of candidates have taken precedence over their political associations or ideological bonds in election campaigns here.

They are seen in videos soliciting votes from people on the basis of their tribe and sub-tribes and demeaning opponents for being part of rival tribes.

With the general election in one National Assembly constituency NA-27 and three provincial assembly constituencies PK-69, PK-70 and PK-71 just a week away, some candidates are reminding tribesmen of how much attention they as lawmakers paid to the development of their areas by neglecting other localities or tribes.

They’re little interested in promoting the political parties that fielded them and are helping them canvass “to an extent.”

Tribal district has one NA, three PA seats

Political observer Khiyal Mat Shah Afridi, who is a former councillor, insisted political ideologies and election manifestos were “conveniently” ignored by candidates of almost all major parties.

“Organisational structures of most parties are very weak in tribal districts, while the local electorates prefer someone from their own tribe instead of an alien imposed on them,” he told Dawn.

Mr Shah said that a former MNA who was contesting election on the PML-N ticket for the district’s only National Assembly seat, was focusing more on his Kukikhel “constituency” in Jamrud where he belonged to instead of exhausting his and his campaign team’s energies in Bara and Landi Kotal.

The candidate in question was also accused by some rivals for playing the “tribal card” with video messages to Kukikhel tribe in which his campaign managers had been persuading the Kukikhel tribesmen to vote for their “own” candidate instead of a non-local.

Similarly, a former MPA and another former MNA from Bara had also been hugely banking on their own tribes in Bara while paying scant attention to voters in other tribes and areas though both are awarded tickets by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, which has a larger vote bank than other parties. It bagged two National Assembly and one provincial assembly seats in the previous elections.

A Jamaat-i-Islami candidate for PK-71 had adopted a different “nationalistic” and aggressive approach during his campaign by directly questioning the rationale behind military operation in parts of Tirah, displacement of what he described as the innocent families and presence of suspect militants in these regions.

“Slogans which depict the helplessness of local residents appeal more to the electorates rather than aligning themselves with a political party or following their manifestos,” observed Khiyal Mat Shah.

However, the campaign remained peaceful till to date throughout Khyber with candidates mostly desisting from mudslinging and refraining themselves from use of abusive and inflammatory language in their speeches.

“Its more about personal achievements in provision of basic facilities to the electorates and execution of more development schemes in a certain area rather than promoting party manifesto,” Qari Naurang, a political activist from Triah valley, told Dawn.

He also said with the election at hand, candidates had made frequent visits to the valley in order to muster support of the militancy-affected residents with pledges of providing better health and education facilities and clean drinking water, and rehabilitating destroyed homes and roads.

However, he said similar pledges were made to the people of Tirah in previous elections but very little was done for them.

Candidates of religious parties or organisations, too, are banking on their personal clout or tribal affiliation instead of using the “religion card.”

Wajid Ali, a young political activist, said religious parties had limited vote bank in the district and they hadn’t won a single assembly seat since the introduction or extension of the Political Parties Act in the tribal districts in 2011.

“We have yet to see any considerable growth in the number of votes of religious parties in Khyber district as residents are more attached with their respective tribes than political or religious parties,” he said.

To find your constituency and location of your polling booth, SMS your NIC number (no spaces) to 8300. Once you know your constituency, visit the ECP website here for candidates.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2024