By Yasser Latif Hamdani
In 2008 ANP's victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its subsequent alliance with PPP at the center had mistakenly been seen as a victory for Pushtun Nationalism. That myth was burst in May 2013, just as the myth of MMA's Islamist politics had exploded earlier. The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pushtun and Non-Pushtun, religious or non-religious, have proved yet again that they are not swayed by emotional slogans. After all if identity politics was what it was all about the renaming of NWFP as KPK should have been considered a major feather in the cap of ANP. The people of KPK, while proud of their new name which was an important corrective in Pakistani history, voted PTI because ANP's government from 2008-2013 was a spectacular failure on every count.
In 2008 ANP's victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its subsequent alliance with PPP at the center had mistakenly been seen as a victory for Pushtun Nationalism. That myth was burst in May 2013, just as the myth of MMA's Islamist politics had exploded earlier. The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pushtun and Non-Pushtun, religious or non-religious, have proved yet again that they are not swayed by emotional slogans. After all if identity politics was what it was all about the renaming of NWFP as KPK should have been considered a major feather in the cap of ANP. The people of KPK, while proud of their new name which was an important corrective in Pakistani history, voted PTI because ANP's government from 2008-2013 was a spectacular failure on every count.
