[author image=”http://hunzanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/farman.jpg” ]FARMAN ALI THARA Contributor is an HR Professional hailing from Hunza [/author]
The word elections is the mostly repeated and commonly used word in Print and electronic media of GB nowadays .The era of PPP government whichwas led by Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah finally comes to an end and it is replaced by care taker setup, whose major responsibility is to conduct true and fair elections in due course of time. This newly formed care taker setup is nowadays seen fully functional in Gilgit Baltistan region and being a youth of GB sometimes I questioned myself that whether the newly established care taker setup is fully competent to provide a safe environment for elections?? Or in contrast to that whether this care taker setup will serve as aladderinthe process of rigging. So these are few questions which needs to bediscuss and I think everyone will get the proper answer after the process of polling.
GB is strategically having prime importance as we are having boarder links with many countries and especially with China and nowadays there is battle on Pak China economic corridor which includes GB as well, So being a strategically very important area we are still dependent on the Federal government for our rights and Federal government is reluctant to show its interest in GB in most of cases despite of strategic importance. One of recent example is avoiding GB in the appointment of Governor, why all this is happening from very decades and is still ongoing??Although there exists a countless reasons but I will pen down two of them which are of theutmost important.
Lack of Good Governance
Good governance is rare commodity throughout Pakistan but in case of GB it is very high and even it is touches the high altitudes. To elaborate this issue I will quote the example of Hunza Valley where my name is registered in the voter list. In Hunza from many years what I see is that there is no concept of nurturing good leadership, although Hunza has got very high literacy rate in Pakistan but despite of having high rates in literacy we are still in ignorance when it comes to electing a leader .This is a matter of concern for all of us especially for educated youth of Hunza. In Pastvotes in elections are mostly casted on the basis of tribes and caste despite of analyzing the leadership qualities of a leader and we opted to choose those leaders who don’t know the pros and cons of effective leadership, who evenis not eligible to speak in public gathering and I have seen speeches of our leaders by myself and even they don’t have a strong grip on Urdu which is our mother tongue. So it’s us who bring the bad leaders in assemblies who even doesn’t possess a good leadership skills to have a debate with Federal government on many issues.
So there is dire need of revival and change in this pitiable system of voting, being a youth we have to check and see the leadership quality of the leader before casting a vote and we have to abolish the voting system in name of Tribes, religion and Caste.
Rigging in Elections
Elections plays a vital role in the solidification of democracy .But the scenario is different in case of GB.We all come to hear from our elders that GB government is subject to the functioning government in Federal capital and every voter in GB blindly believes that if there is PML (N) Government in Federal capital obviously there will be government of PML (N) in GB and same for other political parties as well. How this perception is still there in the minds of every voter of GB? And the best answer for this question lies in the heading of this paragraph which is the word rigging.
We all know that every political party in Government always tries hard to show its presence all over Pakistan and on the day of elections, government utilizes its all available resources to get a win with huge margins to secure its majority in the GB Assembly, so in this way they will formed their own government. And Federal government always tries to suppress the government of GB and treat them as a lollypop.
Elections 2015 a New hope:
Every election in a democratic country is considered to be a new hope for its people and election is the only source through which every nation can eliminate the above mentioned impediments. Now it’s our turn (GB’s Turn) to bring change through a ballot paper and we are very much near to elections now and it will serve as new hope if every voter of GB will prefer to caste his /her votes to a leader who has potential to do something for entire GB.
Nowadays most of Pakistan leading political parties are putting all their fingers in for upcoming elections in GB and some of candidates are seems to be confirmed to contest the elections, but the matter to address here is that most of interested candidates are having the background of NGOs, INGOs etc. and they most of them have started interaction with youth Via Social media and I don’t think that the one who has enjoyed luxurious life would be able to grab the attention of youth and residents of GB. I have seen them very rare when youth is in trouble and I have seen them very rare when ATA was imposed in Hunza,and I have seen them very rare when issue of separate district seat for Hunza was raised. Being an energetic youth of Hunza I will prefer to vote such a candidate who has guts to address the issues of youth, who has guts to lead from front not from Facebook and LinkedIn.
In concluding remarks I would like to request all the youth that please vote for a candidate who stands by with you when you will face any problem and avoid all those who mostly comes first to like your post on Facebook and comes last to like you in general public. And don’t forget that upcoming elections is a major hope for all residents of GB to do something for their homeland.
“Don’t forget that A ballot is stronger than a Bullet”
