ANP plans to protect its turf with rally on May 12

Karachi
The Awami National Party has decided to flex its muscles with a rally in Karachi on May 12 – a move aimed at preventing other political parties from encroaching upon its support base in the city - the Pashtun community.
The ANP, which emerged as an influential political group in Karachi and won two Sindh Assembly seats in the 2008 general elections, has been on a downward journey because of many reasons.
Analysts say that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s attacks against ANP leaders and rallies were one of the key reasons behind the party’s diminishing strength in the city.
However, in a meeting held at the residence of ANP provincial chief Senator Shahi Syed on April 30, the party leadership decided to organise a rally on May 12 in City Railway Colony.
Different committees were formed under the leadership of provincial general secretary Younis Buneri. The ANP said the public gathering was aimed at commemorating the eighth death anniversary of its activists killed in the May 12, 2007 violence in Karachi
“The sacrifices rendered by the ANP for restoration of the judiciary on May 12 can’t be forgotten,” said Syed. However, analysts believe that party has chosen the date of May 12 to use the Pashtun card again in the city’s politics.
“The May 12, 2007 mayhem was another watershed event after the Bushra Zaidi case that had incited ethnic violence in the city,” said an analyst.
Support base
Syed and other leaders are not ready for holding any public gatherings in the city because the threats posed by the Taliban, said party insiders.
But leaders of various districts have persuaded them to show its political presence in the city as other political parties, especially the Pakistan People’s Party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jamaat-e-Islami have been making efforts to make inroads in the Pashtun pockets of the city, they maintained.
PPP co-chairperson and former president Asif Ali Zardari had visited the Masan Road area of Keamari on March 24 and met with a delegation of Pashtun elders of the city at the residence of former provincial transport minister Akhtar Hussain Jadoon.
Zardari had assigned Jadoon the task of roping influential Pashtun people into the party and recently appointed him as an advisor in the local government department to address the civic issues of Pashtun neighborhoods in the city, said PPP insiders.
Amanullah Mehsud, a former ANP MPA, and other key leaders have already joined the PPP.
The JI has formed a Pashtun jirga, headed by Abdul Razzaq, its West district chief, in the city. It has also organised several programmes in Pashtun areas, in which the JI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leadership, especially central chief Sirajul Haq, provincial chief Prof Ibrahim and senior minister Inayatullah, have separately participated.
The PTI too already succeeded in garnering the support of the Pashtun pockets in the city.
Taliban attacks
The Taliban’s unabated killing of ANP leaders and attacks on their houses and businesses in Karachi have compelled the party to stop all its overt political activities in the city.
Syed and other party leaders say that over 100 party activists have been killed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban in the city, mainly in the West district. The terror outfit’s Swat faction that is loyal to its central chief Maulana Fazlullah is behind the killing campaign.
In June 2012, TTP operatives had sent a message to the ANP’s leaders in the city to quit the party, remove its flags and slogans from their homes and businesses, and close their offices.
Many key leaders and activists left the city and moved back to their hometowns and Islamabad. Others have joined right-wing political parties, including the PTI, the JI and the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat.
The TTP attacks also affected the party’s campaign in the 2013 polls in the city. In the 2008 general elections, the ANP won two provincial seats in Karachi’s largest Pashtun-populated areas – SITE Town and Landhi Industrial Area.
But in the 2013 polls, the TTP targeted the rallies and offices of the ANP candidates Bashir Jan and Amanullah Mehsud, killing and injuring several of its activists.
The Taliban had also claimed responsibility for the killing of Sadiq Zaman Khattak, the ANP candidate in NA-254 Korangi, Bilal Colony, on May 2, 2013.
However, police officials and ANP leaders believe that the ongoing crackdown against criminals in Karachi had shattered the TTP network as many key Taliban commanders in the city have killed.
“The TTP has been weakened in Karachi, the party has decided not to stage rallies in West and Malir districts over security concerns,” said an ANP leader.
“The party leadership will meet the officials of the law enforcement agencies for the provision of security to the participants of the May 12 rally,” he added.