BANNU: A bumpy, three-hour car ride on the Indus Highway from Peshawar ends when you take the right turn towards Bannu. After that starts a comfortable journey on the 50km road linking the national highway to Bannu city.

Locals call it the Link Road, constructed during the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government (2002-2007) headed by then chief minister Muhammad Akram Khan Durrani, who belongs to the area.

“All the streets, the small and major roads that I use on a daily basis,were constructed by Akram Khan Durrani,” says Umar Jan, a 53-year-old honey dealer in Bannu city. “Look,” he continues, “I drink water from the water pumps installed by Mr Durrani while my sons and daughters are enrolled in educational institutions established by him.”

Besides many schools and basic health units, Mr Durrani’s efforts ensured the establishment of passports’ and Nadra offices. Earlier, residents used to have to travel over 100km to Dera Ismail Khan to apply for identity cards and passports. “There is no reason not to vote for Mr Durrani, who brought a lot of development to Bannu,” continues Mr Jan, wearing a traditional turban despite the scorching heat.

Akram Khan Durrani is contesting the July 25 elections from NA-35 Bannu and PK-90 Bannu-IV. PTI chief Imran Khan is also among the twelve candidates contesting on NA-35. The entry of the latter has made the contest livelier because of the charisma of the cricketer-turned-politician.

Candidate of the JUI-F won the sole National Assembly seat in Bannu during previous elections. Of the four provincial assembly seats, the JUI-F has won the majority.

Maulana Nasib Ali Shah of the MMA won the National Assembly seat of Bannu in the 2002 general elections with 78,886 votes while an independent candidate, Malik Mustafa Khan, stood as runner-up having 31,867 votes.

In the 2008 general election, the MMA chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman proved victorious with 91,484 votes in the constituency, while independent candidate Malik Nasir Khan was the runner-up with 56,545 votes.

Similarly, in the 2013 general elections, Muhammad Akram Khan Durrani won the seat, polling 78,294 votes, while the runner-up was independent candidate Maulana Nasim Ali Shah who secured 45,270 votes.

The record of the Election Commission of Pakistan shows that MMA or JUI-F candidates have won the Bannu National Assembly seat by getting around double the votes of the runner-up.

However, it will not be easy for the MMA to win comfortably this time as Imran Khan has jumped into the fray, and his charismatic personality still influences the young of the southern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Local journalist Abdul Salam observes that a neck-to-neck contest is expected between Mr Khan and Mr Durrani. “Only these two are discussed in the hujras and other social gatherings,” he says.

A chat with young men in the urban and rural areas of Bannu finds the majority to be blind followers of Imran Khan. Asked what the earlier, PTI-led provincial government did for Bannu, several young men refer to the PTI’s slogan, saying, “We want change.”

Mohammad Haroon, 27, says that he will definitely cast his vote for the PTI, even though it did nothing for Bannu. Yet Mr Haroon, who has a Master’s degree in botany, sees the improvement in hospitals and educational institutions brought about by the PTI during its five-year tenure. “Teachers are appointed through the National Testing Service in government schools,” he points out.

Cloth dealer Farhatullah, 50, says that his family is divided. The elders will vote for Mr Durrani for doing unprecedented development work in Bannu, while the young are attracted by the glamour of Imran Khan’s rallies.

Indeed, it was Mr Durrani’s popularity among the masses that forced the PTI to field its chief in Bannu, as no one other than Imran Khan is perceived as being able to defeat Mr Durrani.

Journalist Abdus Salam says that Mr Durrani, having been in power since 2002, has established a university, a medical college, 12 colleges for boys and girls, many health units and the prominent Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital in the area. He has also to his credit a large number of schools, amongst them the Akram Durrani Model School Bannu.Every year, the students of this institution bag the first three positions in the secondary school certificate and intermediate examinations of the Bannu Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education.

“This school is spreading quality education in Bannu,” says the journalist. Being a federal minister, Mr Durrani has also provided gas to the six union councils of Bannu, while he had already provided gas to four union councils when he was chief minister.

Aware of the development brought about by Mr Durrani and his popularity, the PTI arranged two public rallies that were addressed by Imran Khan. According to the PTI media team, Bannu is the only district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that Mr Khan visited twice, because it is not easy to win this seat. “We are trying to dent Mr Durrani’s popularity,” they say.

Mr Durrani, however, is facing serious threats to his life. He survived a remote-controlled bomb blast on his convoy on July 13. Four of his party workers were killed and 32 injured as a result of the blast. And on Sunday (July 22), he survived a gun attack during a rally.

A Bannu-based analyst says that the religious sentiments of voters were cashed in on by the JUI-F in the previous elections, while this time the social media has changed the situation. However, he adds, all the young are not with the PTI, and there are around 300 JUI-F seminaries in Bannu.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2018