LANDI KOTAL: Khyber Agency achieved a distinction of securing four seats in the upper house of the parliament in the March 3 Senate elections.

Khyber Agency had already two senators -- Taj Mohammad from Jamrud and Haji Momin Afridi.

They had won their seats in the 2015 Senate elections. The newly elected two young senators Mirza Afridi and his cousin Haji Ayub Afridi also belong to Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Mirza Afridi was elected as an independent senator on one of the four vacant seats from Fata while Haji Ayub Afridi contested the polls for general seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the ticket of PTI.

Tribal region now has four representatives in upper house

Their uncle Shah Khalid Afridi was also an independent candidate but he could not make it to the upper house owing to a ‘pre-election’ bargain with rival candidates.

Senator Taj Mohammad’s elder brother Haji Shahji Gul and Senator Haji Momin’s younger brother Nasir Khan are MNAs from Khyber Agency. Khyber Agency also has the privilege of having six parliamentarians out of the total 19 in both houses of parliament.

The militancy-affected Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency has also made a record by keeping representation in the upper house for the last 15 consecutive years despite confronting very hostile situation.

Hameedullah Jan Afridi won Senate seat from Bara in 2003 which he had to vacate after he won the National Assembly seat in the 2008 general elections. Sitting MNA Nasir Khan from Bara filled the vacant seat for one year as he along with three other tribal senators retired in 2009.

Haji Khan from Bara managed to win the Senate seat in 2009 with the support of Hameedullah Jan Afridi. He was later succeeded by Haji Momin with his younger brother Nasir Khan and fellow MNA from Jamrud Haji Shahji Gul voting in his favour in the 2015 Senate elections.

Hailing from a wealthy business family from Sipah tribe of Bara, the newly elected MNA Mirza Khan Afridi announced to join PML-N along with another independent senator from Darra Adamkhel, Shamim Afridi.

Reacting to the parliamentary milestone achieved by Khyber Agency by sending three senators to the upper house of parliament, Khyber Union president Bazaar Gul Afridi said that people of Khyber Agency had no hope from those senators as they had made it to the Senate by power of their wealth.

“How can a senator think of the wellbeing of his area people when he has spent billions of rupees for winning the support of tribal MNAs,” he said.

He added that they would rather focus on securing and safeguarding their business interests.

Senator Haji Momin, however, said that it was a historic occasion for the people of Fata and they should celebrate it.

He said that the group of new and old senators would work for getting additional development funds for tribal areas along with pressurising the government to implement Fata reforms.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2018