Youth power rising in Chitral

CHITRAL, May 14: Though the elections 2013 brought no substantial changes as far as the winners are concerned, it showed the rising youth power which may lead to drastic changes in the political landscape of the valley where personality cult always remained a dominant force. Besides, these elections also put Chitral on a world spotlight albeit for a short period of time because of former President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to contest for the National Assembly seat of Chitral. Even though he was disqualified from contesting the elections and also faced a lifetime ban on taking part in politics, people of Chitral voted for his party candidates. The lone national and one of the two provincial assembly seats were won by the APML candidates. Talking to chitraltoday.net, social and environment activist Rehmat Ali Jaffar Dost said Musharraf was very popular among the people of Chitral and despite the election boycott decision by the APML, its eagle flew high over the skies of the valley. He said the people of Chitral this time did not vote for the old political representatives including Ghulam Mohammad, Abdul Akbar and the Shahzada but voted in the name of Musharraf for his work for Chitral. There was a real change as far as the PTI votes were concerned. There was no existence of the PTI a few years back but in the May 11 elections, people came out in thousands in all parts of the valley and voted for Imran Khan. Most of the voters who went for PTI were young people. The youth played an important role in mobilizing the voters. Even the school students who had no voting right worked hard and persuaded their sisters and mothers to vote for Imran Khan, he said. Had the Musharraf factor not been there and had the PTI awarded tickets to young and dynamic candidates,  the two seats which went to the APML should have been grabbed by the Imran Khan party, he added.  ]]>