ANP on the verge of collapse in Karachi

Awami National Party (ANP), which had emerged as Karachi’s second largest party over the last few years, seems to have lost all hopes of winning even a single National Assembly (NA) seat from the city, and has decided not to field candidates from five NA constituencies in addition to fielding relatively unknown candidates from areas where the party is contesting.
ANP has decided to contest elections on 15 NA seats out of a total 20 seats in Karachi. The party has, in most cases, fielded candidates who have never contested elections before. From the candidates the party has selected for NA seats, only four leaders are part of ANP’s Sindh or central leadership. The rest are largely unknown figures in the constituencies they are contesting from.
ANP Sindh Vice President (VP) Amanullah Mehsood will contest from NA-257, ANP District East Karachi General Secretary Sadiq Zaman Khattak from NA-254 while two leaders of the party’s central working committee, Syed Hanif Shah and Sultan Mandokhel, were given tickets for NA-250 and NA-258, respectively. However, the 11 other nominated candidates were completely new faces.
The five constituencies where the party has not fielded a candidate include NA-246 Federal B Area, NA-248 Lyari, NA-249 Kharadar, NA-251 Lines Area and NA-252 PIB Colony. ANP’s remaining candidates from the metropolis include Sarfaraz Khan Jadoon from NA-239, Kabir Ahmed Khan from NA-240, Syed Karam Darwaidh from NA-241, Asghar Khan from NA-242, Raaz Muhammad from NA-243, Muhammad Ishaque from NA-244, Muhammad Khan Afridi from NA-245, Zahid Muhammad from NA-247, Arshad Khan from NA-253, Abdur Rehman Khan from NA-255 and Muhammad Younus Khan from NA-256.
“The party has decided to put its entire concentration on provincial assembly seats,” a party leader, who wished not to be named, told Pakistan Today. “ANP has fielded candidates in 15 NA constituencies of the city just to ensure party presence on ballot papers,” he added. “We emerged as the city’s second largest party over the past few years but everyone knows what suddenly happened a month before general elections,” he said.
“We are not allowed to campaign and if anyone dares to hold a public gathering he is attacked,” he said. “The party workers were being continuously victimised in targeted violence before elections that has terrorised workers,” he stated. “ANP has decided to fight for some provincial assembly seats in Karachi in places where the party has a stronghold,” he added.
“Every nominated candidate for NA seats has earned a good name in their respective areas,” ANP Sindh General Secretary Bashir Jan said while talking to Pakistan Today. He is himself contesting polls for the provincial assembly seat PS-93. “ANP is not leading a fill-in-the-blanks policy and it has fielded candidates from only those constituencies where the party has a presence,” he added. “We are not going to contest from five NA seats in Karachi because we believe the party has no presence in these areas,” he said. “ANP is an emerging party in the city and it needs some time to gain popularity,” said Jan.