Hazara’s electoral politics

Hazaras must vote for a party that espouses their cause instead of being fooled by those who make hollow promises.

Shazia Mehboob April 13, 2013
With the elections around the corner, many proponents of the Tehreek-e-Sooba Hazara — who vociferously demanded a separate province for the inhabitants of Hazara when the name of the erstwhile NWFP was changed to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa — have joined mainstream political parties.

This switching over and ditching game played by the champions of the peoples’ rights has literally left the Hazarawals in the lurch.

They are now groping in the dark as to who to support as it is not clear who will promote their cause for a separate Hazara province in the best possible manner.

The inhabitants of Hazara lack direction as far as the upcoming elections are concerned because their so-called leaders have deactivated the movement, which had claimed more than 10 lives in 2010.

Baba Haider Zaman, seemingly the only major proponent left of the separate province for Hazarawals, must be at a loss at this ditching game played by his old comrades.  Zaman still has a few cards up his sleeve and he has yet to decide what he plans and which party he supports.

Apparently, the PML-N seems to be a relatively strong political party of the region as many leading politicians, like Gohar Ayub Khan, Umar Ayub and Sardar Shahjahan Yousaf have joined it.

Azam Swati and Nawabzada Salahuddin, formerly of the JUI-F and the ANP, are running their campaigns under the banner of the PTI, which may help them get seats in the otherwise antagonistic environment, given their past performances.

The Hazara division has six districts with seven seats in national and 21 seats in the provincial assembly and these have a vital role in national politics. That is the reason why every political party is claiming that they support the movement for the Hazara province with the PML-N incorporating the demand in its manifesto.

Hazarawals should keep in mind that they are the harbingers of change and their destiny is in their own hands.

They must vote for whichever party espouses their cause, instead of being fooled by those who make hollow promises they have no intention of fulfilling.

Read more by Shazia here.
WRITTEN BY:
Shazia Mehboob The author works at The Express Tribune.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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