Strength becoming the weakness

Dear editor,

Only a few days back, while giving my personal views on the letter of Mr. Garzy, I had endorsed the apprehensions he had voiced in his brief letter. Now the news about the aspiring candidates to the national assembly seat from Chitral on PPP (P) ticket, as reported by Mr. Shah Murad Baig of The News confirms what I had termed as �strength becoming the weakness�. People all over Pakistan think that pppp workers in Chitral are only to vote and they must not aspire to go to the assemblies (I am talking of PPPP). They are not wholly to be blamed for nurturing such aspirations because we have had committed this folly (though in good faith) when we for the first time in 1988 invited Begum Bhutto to contest from Chitral which later on turned into PPP policy to award tickets to outsiders. The names Mr. Shah Murad Baig has mentioned, includes the name of Pir Karam Ali Shah of the NAs. He undoubtedly is a person of high repute and enjoys great respect on either side of the Shandur pass, especially in the Ismailia belt of the Karakuram and Hindukush region, but what little I know of him, he will not risk the religious status he enjoys for political power that is not even in sight. More over the workers have many a times proved that they will not vote for a person awarded ticket without their consent and out siders; no question.

There is no dearth of suitable and competent candidates within Chitral who have a record of dedication and sincerity to the party cause. Any political opportunist aspiring to grab power from pppp platform will only be too sorry for his political adventurism because the worker of today is wise enough to weigh as to who is who even if he has the "Arrow" as his election symbol.

As for as Mr. Aftab ahmad Khan is concerned, he leads his own faction of ppp. If he decides to contest from Chitral he would have weighed his own political strength before any such decision. And he will be contesting under his own political banner.

What ever the speculations be, PPPP leadership has to be very careful while awarding the Tickets from Chitral. I as a small pppp worker will only suggest that political strength must not be turned into weakness by trading devotion to party cause for monetary position. PPPP, in Chitral always won not because of money but because of its workers. The history is witness to it.

Major (r) Ahmad Saeed
Chitral