Daily Times

Sir: The brawl that erupted between members of the Jamat-e-Islami in Mohman Agency’s Baizai tehsil recently, which almost escalated into a full-fledged riot shows that conservative religious parties are losing their relevance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The religious parties had attempted to consolidate their depleting strength by forming the Muttahida-Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) for these elections, but it seems that too will not help them. The people of KP are known for never experimenting with the same party twice, and they already gave the religious parties a chance during the Musharraf era.

I think it is quite possible that once the upcoming elections are done, religious parties will have the least amount of votes in history. This signifies a change in how Pakistanis think and perceive the political order. If this happens, conservatives should reflect on what it was that drove voters away from them. I myself a former religious conservative, stopped voting for the religious parties because of numerous reasons. One of them was an ugly scene on television a few years ago when a certain member of the JUI-F used abusive and threatening language against a female television anchor. Another reason I don’t vote for them anymore is because they seemed to be supportive of rogue non-state actors such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan before the horrendous Army Public School massacre finally showed all Pakistanis that they were this country’s enemies. I hope they will learn and adapt.

GHULAM NABI

Islamabad

Published in Daily Times, June 23^rd 2018.