Rawalpundit

by sepoy on February 19, 2008 · 3 comments

I appeared on Chicago Public Radio’s Worldview this morning for a brief chat. Give it a listen.

[Thanks to John for that, um, title.]

Tagged as: homistan

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Qalandar February 20, 2008 at 11:58 am: Good stuff!

Interesting you say it’s “unprecedented” that the PPP has now come into its own as a national party. But (correct me if I’m wrong), hasn’t the PPP ALWAYS had the best claim to being a national party among all the Pakistani political parties? i.e. it won substantial seats in Punjab even in the 1988 and 1993 elections, didn’t it? Or were you making the point because of its strong showing this time even in NWFP and Balochistan (I don’t know how the party had done in these provinces in earlier elections).

[Aside: I'm pleased at the ANP's strong showing in the NWFP].
2 sepoy February 20, 2008 at 12:07 pm: Yes, to the later point. The 90s elections saw PPP entirely absent in NWFP and barely there in Baluchistan. So, these gains are noteworthy.

thanks.
3 Umar February 23, 2008 at 10:22 am: But wasn’t the 1993-1996 government in the NWFP headed by the PPP? Aftab Sherpao was Chief Minister… so it wasn’t completely absent…

I too am delighted with the ANP’s showing… they have won two seats in the Sindh provincial assembly too… of course they were from the Pashtun-dominated parts of Karachi but if I’m not mistaken, the PPP supported them in those constituencies…

An article in Dawn recently asked, “Why not Asfandyar Wali himself as Chief Minister?” Indeed, why not? Or, for that matter, Afrasiyab Khattak…