LANDI KOTAL, April 21: Restrictions on mobility in Bara and displacement of families from the area have made election campaign difficult and costly for the candidates running for National Assembly seat, NA- 46, in Khyber Agency.
Except for Bar Qambarkhel and parts of Akkakhel, the rest of localities in Bara are considered no-go areas for the candidates as none of them has so far visited Sipah, Malikdinkhel, Shalobar and Zaodin-Zakhakhel. Threats from militants and the ongoing military operation in most parts of Bara have also hampered the election campaigns of the candidates.
The Taliban controlled Bagh-Maidan and Kukikhel areas in Tirah valley are totally out of bounds for both the government functionaries and candidates. Spin Drand, Nangrosa, Dongra, Darper, Sookh, Takhtakai, Ahmadi, Sandana, Sanda Pal and Garhai localities of Tirah valley are under the control of Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-i-Islam. The residents of these areas have very limited contacts with people of other parts of the valley.
Lashkar-i-Islam has already rejected the current electoral process and warned of disrupting electioneering in any part of Bara.
According to official estimates, military operations, imposition of curfew and control of militants over certain areas have compelled more than 70,000 families of Akkakhel, Sipah, Malikdinkhel, Shalobar, Zaodin Zakhakhel, Bar Qambarkhel, Akkakhel and Kamarkhel to flee their areas and settle down in Jalozai camp and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh.
“It’s really frustrating to first locate and then go after these IDPs and ask for vote in the upcoming elections,” Hamidullah Jan Afridi, who won the 2008 elections from Bara, told Dawn.
He said that it was near to impossible to trace and locate potential voters from the existing voters list as the vote registration was conducted on the basis of census blocks.
He said that more than 65,000 families moved out only from the plain areas of Bara and all of them were not residing in camps.
Javed Afridi, who withdrew his nomination papers in support of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf candidate Iqbal Afridi, said that campaign at Jalozai camp was competitively easy as families from almost all the seven Afridi tribes were residing in the camp.
He said that his supporters were helped IDPs residing in jalozai to trace the displaced families living outside the camp.
He said that a good number of Bara IDPs were concentrated in and around Peshawar and his party workers assigned the task of locating and identifying registered voters to women members of their families and PTI women activists.
But alongside mobilising his supporters to carry out door to door campaign, Hamidullah Jan has also implied another tactics of sending radio massages to potential voters residing in different cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Buying air time on private FM radio channels is convenient and a quick way to reach out to maximum number of voters,” he said, adding that time saved with radio massages was utilised in visiting areas where such radio broadcasts were not heard.
Jamaat-i-Islami candidate Shah Faisal said that his party formed committees of different tribes to approach maximum number of their fellow tribesmen and convince them to vote for him. He acknowledged that the campaign was more difficult and more costly as compared to the previous elections.
Malik Waris Khan, another former MNA, said that his campaign team was also focusing more on door-to-door campaign as organising big gatherings was a security risk and also a financial burden.
Most of the candidates have opened their election offices in Peshawar.
Security forces had in March 24 agreed to partially reopen Bara-Peshawar Road after more than three years.
The announcement brought some jubilation and excitement to the candidates as they thought it would provide an opportunity to them to run a smooth campaign in Bara.
But their jubilation and excitement proved short lived as the road was closed again the next day and could not be reopened till to date. Security officials contended that in the absence of any administrative writ, the local tribesmen were reluctant to guarantee security of the road.
The candidates had held big rallies and organised processions during their election campaign in the 2008 elections.
Lashkar-i-Islam had also organised a big gathering for all the candidates to present their manifestos to the people of Bara.
Electoral roles showed that LI chief Mangal Bagh registered himself as a voter in Bara but he did not cast vote in the last general elections.
“Gone are the days when we were running door-to-door campaign and organised huge public rallies in Bara,” said Murad Saqi, a political worker from Bara.