Musharraf directs MPA-elect to support PTI govt
PESHAWAR, May 20: Former president Pervez Musharraf has directed MPA-elect Ghulam Mohammad from upper Chitral to unconditionally support Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The MPA-elect from PK-90 said he held a meeting with Gen Pervez Musharraf at his farmhouse in Chak Shahzad, Islamabad. “My boss ordered me to support the PTI government in KPK unconditionally,” he said. Ghulam Mohammad won the election on the ticket of Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) by securing 10,691 votes. He said his party would unconditionally support the PTI-led coalition government in the province. “I did not demand any portfolio in the cabinet or any other position in the next government,” he said.
The PTI has won 35 seats in the provincial assembly and has struck a deal with Jamaat-i-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party, Awami Jamhuri Itehad Pakistan and independents to form a coalition government. Three independent MPAs-elect including a former minister Sameeullah Alizai have also supported coalition government.
Gen Musharraf’s decision to come back to Pakistan was based on flimsy thoughts and advice given to him by opportunist elements back home. Flying high on his popularity on the social media, he realized the ground realities soon after landing at the Karachi airport. But by then he had trapped himself. Without going into the consequences of his decision to return to Pakistan, I would like to say that Musharraf has now trapped the Chitralis into the web of opportunist elements who hijacked his popularity in Chitral for their vested interests and are now trying to justify it by presenting the seat to him. The man elected as the MPA on the votes of Musharraf had already proved to be an incompetent public representative who only knows how to earn money through dubious ways and spend it on buying votes. I was also disappointed to watch the young and foreign educated man elected from NA-32 on the PTV program on May 25. He even failed to explain to the host and the panelists the reason why Chitralis voted for the APML. There is no doubt that after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto no Pakistani leaders has done anything tangible for the people of Chitral. The people of Chitral are a separate nation but since independence they have been discriminated against in all fields of life. This is one of the main reasons that when top national leaders like Bhutto and Musharraf did something for them, they considered them as their benefactors. It is only our deprivation and alienation that have kept us out of the mainstream. But our so-called leaders are failing to explain our deprivations and alienation to draw attentions towards our issues and giving an impression that Musharraf built a tunnel for us and we voted him for that. This is not and should not be our only stance. We should try to make other leaders like Nawaz Sharif believe that people of Chitral never forget those who serve them sincerely. If Musharraf can win the hearts and minds of Chitralis, Nawaz Sharif can also endear himself to the Chitralis by completing the tunnel on a priority basis and doing some more work in the valley.It is time our leaders get out of the narrow shell of Pervezo khidmaat and think and work keeping a broader political and social perspective in their minds for the future good of the people of Chitral.