There is no doubt that after each election in Pakistan, the process of formation of central and provincial governments is always difficult. Basic reason behind is the presence of regional political parties, which forever have a vital role in shaping-up the governments.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has emerged as victorious by getting majority seats in the National Assembly, whereas Awami National Party surfaced as the single largest party in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) by getting 31 seats in the house of 99 in the February 18 election.
The central Naib Ameer of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) Amanullah Khan in an interview said religious parties faced clear defeat in the province due to indifferent attitude of party leadership towards the precious party workers and promotion of vested interests for getting ministries.
“The sequence of bomb blasts and suicide attacks during the MMA rule in the province also affected the thought of the voters during the election,” he added.
Majority voted for Awami National Party (a secular-minded party) against Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a religious-minded party, is a clear indication that people of the province have admitted their mistake of favoring the Islamists during the 2002 elections. The MMA leadership was found pursuing its personal interests during its rule instead of thinking about the development of the nation and country.
Observers believed that Awami National Party’s slogan of peace and non-violence helped them get majority seats in the NWFP. The circumstances which favoured the ANP in February 18 election were very much like in 2002 election when MMA got majority in the province by exploiting anti-American sentiments of the people against war in Afghanistan.
The ANP too utilized the same tool. During the previous rule of MMA, the province witnessed a wave of suicide attacks and bomb blasts, which inflicted a loss of hundreds of lives of common man and security personnel. The tribal region which by one way or the other emerged as the most troubled part of the country during the MMA’s rule, also pushed the voters to go against the MMA rulers, who virtually made their lives miserable in almost all parts of the province as attacks on CD centres, barber shops, girls schools and colleges, offices of different NGOs, threats to drivers carrying school and college girls, police checkposts, threatened the people to either shift from their present location to some other part of the country or follow the footsteps of the extremists.
The choice to boycott the February 18 election by a component party of the MMA has also played a vital role in the defeat of religious parties in the NWFP and rest of the country. Many MMA leaders regret polls boycott and said it was a wrong decision. They said the decision of boycott had not only deprived the MMA of getting majority seats, but also forced its voters to change their loyalties as it was a rare opportunity for them to bring a change in the country’s politics.
A leader of Jamaat-i-Islami was found saying that staying away from elections in no way was in the interest of the party. He said his party had done a lot for the welfare of the people during the five years rule in the province and it was the best opportunity for the party to get back its response in the election. The MMA leaders were of the view that they could win the seats of their stronghold Dir and Malakand had one component party not announced election boycott.
Presently, people are of the opinion that the ANP government would be much better than the MMA which had fulfilled no promises despite it having majority members in the provincial assembly. Most development funds were utilized for the constituencies of certain candidates, while the rest of the province remained deprived of its due rights.
Corruption was at its peak, vulgarity was found increasing with each passing day, and Nishtar Hall, the sole recreation place for the Peshawarites, was closed and cinema owners were asked not to display film posters outside their cinemas. The artists who performed in stage dramas at Nishtar Hall started making CDs to earn their livelihood and they played whatever role the producer asked them to play in the CD movies. These CDs are nowadays being played through cables and “entertained” all family members.
Before that there was no such CD business in the province and artists played only good stage dramas in Nishtar Hall. Most of the cinemas had also started screening blue movies as they were only asked to remove the boards from outside their premises. They were allowed to screen whatever they wanted inside. This dubious character has also damaged the leadership of the MMA.
Now let us look at the post-election circumstances. The ANP has got majority vote and presently its leadership is in close contact with the second largest party in the province, the PPP which had obtained 17 seats in the NWFP assembly. Hopefully, both will form government with certain adjustments on the big slots like chief minister, speaker of the assembly and senior ministers.
ANP may get the slot of chief ministership after 60 years struggle. In 1980s and 1990s, ANP allowed Pir Sabir Shah and Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan to form government and become chief ministers. This time, the ANP has decided to go for the big slot as the leadership is claming that vital issues like renaming the province had already settled down with the leaderships of PPP and PML-N with which they would form governments in the centre as well as in the province.
Apparently, people of the province have taken a sigh of relief after the peaceful election. The most interesting thing is that majority of the candidates have accepted the election results. Now, people are looking towards the future and are waiting anxiously as to now the newly emerged parties would fulfill their commitments.
