For an objective
understanding as to how patterns of discourse of Political Economy of states
and Geo-politics of the region interact to marginalize socio-cultural
narrative of a collective entity, we can study performance of Awami National
Party (ANP) in the elections held in 2013 in Pakistan. The Awami national Party,
which claims to have based its political struggle on the indigenous narrative
of the land, was observed to have shown unexpected results for the cadre and
leadership of the party, common masses and objective analysts (the ANP has just
a nominal presence in the National and Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan)[1]. The
indigenous narrative, which is the continuation of the Ghanadara Civilization,
Indus Civilization and Persian Civilization down to the Khudai Khidmatgar
Movement back in 1920s, seems to have been apparently ignored by the masses. Analysis of the results might lead us to the
question as to why a discourse that harbingers happiness, progress and sustainability for a social entity can be apparently disowned by individuals of the same social entity.
The ANP in the Preamble
of its manifesto for the elections 2013 had declared:
The Awami National Party (ANP) draws its inspiration from
the example and teachings of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, affectionately known to
his people as Baacha Khan. With peace and non violence as his guiding
principles, he spent his entire life in the ceaseless and unrelenting struggle
in the cause of freedom and justice, and against all kinds of injustice,
oppression and exploitation. He and his Khudai Khidmatgars supplied the
vanguard of the tremendously demanding fight for the liberation of South Asia
against the great imperial and colonial power of the day, and rendered, in that
path, sacrifices which were matchless and which have remained a beacon for
those who seek justice and rights. He aimed and strove not only to
liberate the masses of South Asia, particularly his own people, the Pakhtuns,
from the shackles of foreign domination, oppression and exploitation, but also
to rid his own people of the curse of poverty, ignorance, harmful customs and
biases, internal disharmony and political inertia. He wanted both
political and social justice for all peoples and nations, and wished that all
peoples and nations should live in freedom, with internal peace and justice,
and with mutual accommodation and cooperation on International level. In
sum, in Bacha Khan’s scheme of things politics and public service was two sides
of the same coin. In keeping with this spirit, the ANP, like its predecessors,
the NAP (National Awami Party) and the NDP (National Democratic Party),
considers politics and public service essentially as two complementary and
indispensable branches of the same activity. Hence, the party is
dedicated to the promotion of democracy and freedom, the eradication of poverty
and ignorance, the protection of all basic human rights and liberties, and the fulfillment
of the genuine and legitimate aspirations of all groups and strata of the
society-particularly the weak, the disadvantaged and the dispossessed. The ANP
firmly believes in peace and non violence and stands against extremism and
violence in all its forms. It believes that dialogue is the best way to
resolve all issues. The ANP is for equal opportunities for all citizens without
discrimination and bias. The ANP is committed to securing for all the
federating units of Pakistan their full political social and economic rights as
equal partners in the federation and their full share in the national progress
and prosperity. The ANP opposes parochial
interpretation of religion and customs and uphold Bacha Khan’s discourse of
human dignity, pluralism and indigenous wisdom and identity through large scale
awareness movement.[2]
The
manifesto seems to incorporate almost all the ingredients of an indigenous
narrative. Let us now make an effort to make sense of the performance of ANP in
the elections.
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