SUBJECT: POLITICAL SCIENCE VI COURSE: BA LLB SEMESTER V (NON-CBCS) TEACHER: MS. DEEPIKA GAHATRAJ MODULE II, PAKISTAN PARTY SYSTEM (i). The Awami National Party (ANP) is a left-wing, secular, Pashtun nationalist party, drawing its strength mainly from the Pashtun-majority areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. It is also active the urban areas of Sindh province and elsewhere. The party was officially formed in 1986 as a conglomeration of several left-leaning parties, but had existed in some form as far back as 1965, when Khan Abdul Wali Khan split from the existing National Awami Party. Khan was following in the political footsteps of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan, popular known as the “Frontier Gandhi”), one of the most prominent nonviolent pro- independence figures under the British Raj. Today, the party is led by Asfandyar Wali Khan, Abdul Wali Khan's son. At the national level, the ANP has traditionally stood with the PPP, the only other major secular party operating across the country. 2008 was no different, and the ANP was one of the PPP's most stalwart allies in the previous government, with its 13 seats in the National Assembly backing the coalition throughout its five-year term in office. In the 2013 polls, however, the ANP will have to contend with high anti-incumbent sentiment in its stronghold of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as a result of a lack of economic development and a deteriorating security situation. The ANP itself has borne the brunt of political violence in the province, with more than 750 ANP workers, activists and leaders killed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in the last several years, according to the party's information secretary, Zahid Khan. The political threat to the ANP takes the form of Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e- Islami (JI), two religious political parties that have historically offered an alternative to the ANP in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The ANP will also be watchful for the appeal of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which has polled well with ethnic Pashtuns. (ii). The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is a secular, liberal but fiscally conservative party that draws its power base from the sprawling metropolis of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. The party held 25 seats in the outgoing parliament, and will once again be expecting a strong showing in the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad - where it has 1 traditionally held sway - resulting in a significant chunk of National Assembly seats and a commanding voice in the Sindh provincial assembly. Initially founded in 1984 as the Muhajir Qaumi Movement, the party's original mission was to safeguard the rights of ethnic Muhajirs, or Muslim migrants from India who moved to Pakistan after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. The MQM, led by its enigmatic chief Altaf Hussain, aimed to ensure that these migrants were not sidelined from government jobs and other quotas in a city which they had come to dominate population-wise. The party has had a tumultuous history, with its members being targeted by the state in police and military operations in the early 1990s, after they were charged with sedition and plotting the breakaway of Karachi and Hyderabad from Pakistan. MQM activists and leaders admitted in subsequent years that they had taken up arms to protect themselves against the state and rival factions, but have always denied that the MQM was involved in any conspiracy against the state. In 1997, the party changed its name to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (United National Movement) - a change that coincided with a period that saw it become a more accepted part of the mainstream of Pakistani politics. Today, the party serves as a vital key in any coalition government, with its control over Karachi, the country's economic engine, and its significant chunk of National Assembly seats. It remains, however, dogged by accusations that it uses violence and fear to extract votes, and extorts business owners in Karachi. 2.