ANP membership campaign in Karachi draws lacklustre response

The three-month party membership campaign that was launched by the Awami National Party (ANP) on July 1 has failed to attract a significant crowd in Karachi, which is considered to be the city with the largest Pakhtun population in the world.

According to party sources, the party could manage to recruit only 7,000 to 8,000 members in its ranks over the past two months. Besides, the party was yet to set up membership camps in many Pakhtun-majority areas of the city.

Sources said the provincial leadership of the party deliberately created this situation to prevent a challenge from the younger lot within the party during the intra-party elections. They claimed that the leadership was distributing membership forms selectively, favouring those who were loyal to the current provincial leadership or those who promised their support to the current leadership in the coming intra-party polls.

"The Sindh ANP charges 100 rupees for registering a member. However, very few are willing to pay this nominal fee to become members," a source said, adding that the provincial leadership had repeatedly deceived local leaders of the party regarding the intra-party elections. Instead of holding elections at the ward level (an area including one or two union committees), the Sindh ANP leadership consistently select office-bearers to ensure that only those loyal to it were at the helm of the affairs.

Party sources say that once, there were 60 to 70 wards of the ANP functional across the city, but only 15 wards were currently active, as party leaders in the rest of the wards had to quit due to disputes with the provincial leadership. The problem extends beyond the ward level, as three of the seven districts of Karachi — East, South and Central — have had no active local leadership for four years. Many parts of the rest of the districts have the same situation.

Party insiders claim that the provincial leadership of the ANP had not shown interest in addressing the issues of the Pashtun community in Karachi, as a result of which many Pashtun youths joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf when it was on the rise. Recently, the Jamaat-e-Islami has gained popularity among the Pashtun youths.

Interestingly, a significant number of ANP workers have also switched to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan in areas like Sohrab Goth in search of solutions to their problems. Sindh ANP President Shahi Syed joined the party on April 15, 2001. Within two years, he became the president of the party's Sindh chapter, a position he has held since then.

Meanwhile, Sindh ANP spokesperson Advocate Bahre Kamal denied the reports that the party was only allowing selected persons to become its members. He stated that the party planned to intensify its membership campaign to achieve the required target before the intra-party elections. He, however, did not disclose the specific membership target. He maintained that anyone who was a party member could contest the coming intra-party elections against the current provincial or central leadership.