Swat gets unprecedented representation in PTI govt

PESHAWAR: The Swat district never had so much representation in the government as it is having during the rule of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

This has raised expectations of the people that Swat would receive special attention from both the federal and provincial governments.

For the first time ever, Swat got a chief minister when Mahmood Khan was unexpectedly chosen by the PTI chairman Imran Khan for the coveted job. In fact, he is the first chief minister from Malakand division, which has seven districts including Swat.

In the provincial cabinet, Swat got two berths when Dr Amjad Ali was made minister for mineral development and Mohibullah Khan was appointed minister for agriculture. Both had been advisors to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak during PTI’s first term in office from 2013-2018. Mahmood Khan was a minister in the Pervez Khattak-led government.

Dr Amjad Ali, who is a physician, had won two provincial assembly seats in the July 25 general election in Swat while Mohibullah had retained his seat, PK-8.

Both Mahmood Khan and Mohibullah Khan belong to the Matta tehsil in Swat. A tehsil getting two cabinet positions, including that of chief minister, appears to be unprecedented.

Swat also got representation in the federal cabinet when Murad Saeed, the young PTI firebrand and an animated participant in TV talks shows, was made minister of state for communication. His appointment was expected as he is considered close to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

While the people of Swat are generally happy that their district had got record representation in the present government, they would like to wait and see as to how much their valley would benefit from this rather over-representation. Hit by armed conflict, earthquake and floods during the last 13 years, they argue that Swat didn’t get the attention it deserved.

Swat gave 100 percent victory to the PTI in the recent election as the party won all three National Assembly and the eight provincial assembly seats. Many Swatis argued that their district deserved bigger representation in the federal and provincial governments after having voted overwhelmingly for the PTI to enable all its candidates to win election from Swat. Strong candidates such as PML-N’s Shahbaz Sharif, Amir Muqam and Feroz Shah Khan, ANP’s retired Brigadier Salim Khan, who is son of late federal minister Mohammad Afzal Khan, PPP’s Miangul Shahryar Amirzeb, and MMA’s former ministers Qari Mahmood and Hussain Ahmad Kanju and lawmaker Mohammad Amin suffered defeat at the hands of PTI candidates.

In the 2013 general election, the PTI had won all national and provincial assembly seats in Swat except one when ANP’s Jaffar Shah managed to defeat its candidate in a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituency.

The voters in certain other districts in the province also voted wholeheartedly for the PTI, but they haven’t been given the kind of representation that Swat got. The electorate in Lower Dir, hitherto a Jamaat-i-Islami stronghold with pockets of support for the PPP and ANP, voted for the PTI in huge numbers this time. The PTI won two National Assembly and four Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats in Lower Dir, losing just one provincial seat to the ANP. However, Lower Dir has yet to get any representation in the federal or provincial cabinet.

Nowshera also gave 100 percent result in favour of PTI. It got representation in the federal government when Pervez Khattak was made minister of defence. However, it hasn’t been given representation yet in the provincial cabinet. PTI’s former provincial minister Jamsheduddin Kakakhel wasn’t made minister this time.

It is generally believed that Pervez Khattak’s younger brother Liaqat Khattak, the former District Nazim for Nowshera, is likely to be made a minister in case he wins the coming by-election. Pervez Khattak managed to get PTI tickets for his son Ibrahim Khattak and also Liaqat Khattak to contest the by-elections on the two provincial assembly seats that he won on July 25 and later vacated. He kept his National Assembly seat that he also won in the recent general election.