PTI has no ticket but more promises for the Kalash

CHITRAL, April 20: Local leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday called upon the government to restore the constitutional and electoral rights of the Kalash community in Chitral. Addressing a press conference, Abdul Lateef, the PTI Chitral president and candidate for NA-32, Mohammad Israr, the general secretary, Haji Mohammad Sultan and Muntasir Billah said the Kalash had been declared as the indigenous people of the area by the United Nations. The Kalsh are also famous in the world for their culture, language, customs and lifestyles but unfortunately they have not been given their real status. It may be recalled that the Kalash community has already criticized the PTI chairman Imran Khan for failing to keep his promise of giving ticket to a Kalash youth for the provincial assembly. The PTI chief had made the promise during his visit to Chitral last year, according to the representatives of the community. The PTI leaders at the press conference said there was no column in the registration system of NADRA for the Kalash though the Hindus, Sikh, Christian and other minority communities had their own columns. Besides, the Kalash have been deprived of their constitutional rights to vote and elect their representative separately by former president Parvez Musharraf in 2001. The former president brought the minorities including the Kalash into the mainstream by giving them the right to vote under the joint electorate system. But the Kalash community has complained that this has deprived them to participate in election as a minority candidate. They said PTI chief Imran Khan had committed to giving party ticket for PK-89 to Wazir Zada Kalash but due to some reasons the party could not nominate him for the provincial assembly seat. They demanded separation of Kalash from other scheduled caste so that they can be nominated for the provincial and national assembly seats through special legislation. They promised that if the PTI came to power it would support the demand of Kalash. Responding to a question, they said although the Kalash community had boycotted the election they would try to persuade them to review their decision.—GH Farooqui]]>