Awami Workers Party (AWP)’s Ammar Rashid, who will contest the general election from Islamabad’s NA 53, vows to revive leftist politics in the country by bringing back ideological strength to politics.

With no alternative to the right wing forces that have monopolised the electoral arena for long, the participation of left-leaning youth activists in the upcoming elections is being welcomed by progressive quarters. The AWP has filed two candidates, Ammar Rashid and Ismat Shahjahan, from Islamabad. 14 candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KP), 4 from Punjab and 2 from Sindh have also filed their nomination papers on the AWP’s ticket.

While the AWP accepts that their opponents are stronger and greater in numbers, they see elections as an opportunity to get the leftist force regonised. “Contesting elections is a strategy to get the message across and make our presence felt, because those who claim to have brought change do not represent the change that Pakistan needs,” Ammar Rashid told Daily Times.

He added that the involvement of progressive parties in elections will help revive the politics of left and bring an end to the status quo. Talking about his manifesto, Rashid said access to affordable housing in Islamabad is a pressing issue and he will try to resolve it if elected. “It is the state’s failure that 50 per cent of the residents in Islamabad live without access to housing. The needs of the housing have changed over the years with increase in population, but the authorities did little to fulfill the needs of the public.”

Rashid also termed water scarcity a critical issue and lamented that there is no plan in place to conserve water.

Ammar Rashid will be contesting against PTI Chairman Imran Khan as the latter has announced his candidature from the same constituency. Rashid says it was only after filing the nomination papers that he came to know that Imran Khan is contesting from the same constituency. “We welcome the development,” he says, but adds that the PTI chairman has diverged from the party’s initial ideologist stance over the past few years by joining hands with the same people he used to criticise.

Challenging the PTI’s notion of change, Rashid says, “Imran Khan allied with anti-democratic forces to get his way. What kind of change is it when you need extra-constitutional steps to come into power?”

He further said that Imran Khan claims to strand up for youth of the country but most of PTI’s leaders are above 50 years of age, adding that the party did not award tickets on the basis of merit.

Published in Daily Times, June 15th 2018.