Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has long been an area where politicians have gone at it tooth and nail to amass public approval and electoral support. Since 2013, the PTI has formed two successive governments in the province.

But this year, a young doctor contesting under the ANP banner is optimistic the winds will change come Feb 8.

Dr Naveedullah Khan has chosen Peshawar’s PK-82 to start his political journey. An orthopaedic surgeon by profession, the 37-year-old decided to contest due to the rarity of professionals engaged in mainstream politics. Mr Khan believes the lack of professionals directly correlates to policies that are neither ‘viable’ or ‘innovative’.

He served at University Hospitals Birmingham as a practitioner before joining the Khudai Khidmatgar Organisation (KKO) — an NGO formed to advocate for the rights of Pashtuns. Inspired by the Khudai Khidmatgar movement, which was a non-violent movement spearheaded by the charismatic Bacha Khan, Dr Naveedullah Khan is serving as its provincial head of the organisation.

With over 170,000 registered voters in the constituency, he may well face hurdles given he is up against an ex-provincial minister (allied with the PTI), and candidates of the PML-N and the JUI-F.

But Dr Khan is confident that despite the PTI’s influence on social media platforms, the on-ground reality is ‘entirely different’.

“ANP has been active in KP… they are the best equipped to deliver adequate governance to the populace,” he said.

He believes that rather than self-interest, the party has “historically taken principled stances and stood by them, for democracy”.

“We are the only party that acts upon our manifesto, as witnessed by our central role in passing the 18th Amendment and reverting our province’s name to KP.”

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2024