TOBA TEK SINGH: Those following politics in the region are surprised that two industrialist-cum-political families of Faisalabad have decided to stay away from the Feb 8 election.

It also shows the current political situation in the country when the PTI has almost been pushed against the wall. Some political pundits predict that the upcoming election would be the most controversial in the history of the country.

The family of the late Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad Kohistania (people called him Kohistania for being the founder of countrywide Kohistan Transport Company), also owning 15 textile mills under the Masood Textile Group first entered the politics in 1979 during the martial law of Gen Ziaul Haq.

Nazir was elected as the chairman of the Lyallpur District Council in three local government elections including those of 1987 till 1990.

He won the election of the MNA in 1985, 1988 and 1990, the last two elections he contested as a member of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, an alliance that included the PML of Nawaz Sharif and Jamaat-i-Islami.

Kohistania’s son Zahid Nazir was elected as the MPA once and district council chairman twice while he remained the district nazim once. His other son Shahid Nazir was once elected as MNA while his third and youngest son, Asim Nazir (son in law of former MNA and district nazim of Toba Tek Singh Chaudhry Muhammad Ashfaq) was elected as MNA for consecutive four elections.

During his career, Asim remained affiliated with the PML-Q as well as PML-N while Asim was elected as an independent candidate in the 2018 election.

He had joined the PTI after his win before quitting the party and joining the PML-N in March 2022 just before Shehbaz Sharif became the prime minister in the PDM government.

This is very surprising that for the Feb 8 election, no one from the Nazir family has filed nomination papers from any of the national or provincial assembly constituencies of Faisalabad. Sources say that the PML-N was ready to give a ticket to Asim, however, he opted to remain away from politics for the time being.

When this correspondent contacted a family source, it came to be known that Asim Nazir was currently abroad. His close aide, who requested anonymity, said the family decided to take a break from the politics just to take rest. He said the family knew that whenever they would again come back into politics, they would definitely win from any constituency as they had no greed to earn from politics and they were famous for just public service.

The source claimed that in the subsequent general election, Asim would be a candidate for MNA and even if elections were postponed, he would be a candidate. The sources, however, see something else behind the family move. They say that the Nazir family was aware that this assembly would not last long so the family decided not to waste money on contesting for the election.

Another similar family is the Rana family that owns multiple textile mills and it is also staying away from upcoming polls. Rana Zahid Tauseef became an MNA in 1993 and 1997. He remained the district nazim too. Zahid’s younger brother Rana Asif Tauseef, the former federal minister, was awarded a ticket for the Feb 8 election by the PTI ticket for NA-99. He had filed his nomination papers but surprisingly withdrew his papers on the scrutiny day. He told the reporters that he had decided not to contest the election due to ‘personal reasons’.

Sources, however, say that due to repeated raids for his arrest, his family decided to stay away from the polls this time as they see that taking part in the election from the PTI could damage their businesses.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2024