7 - An Ideology of Nonviolence? the Awami National Party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Summary

The Pashtun Awami National Party (ANP) may have engaged in violence in Karachi, but in , I explain why it refrains from violent acts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. KP is a heavily armed province which has faced the brunt of militant violence over the last decade. Despite this, the ANP has chosen not to engage in violence itself or ally with any violence specialists in the area. I rule out explanations for this divergence that center on levels of electoral competition, ideology, or features exclusive to Karachi. Instead, I suggest that the ANP’s distinct violence strategies are a function of the dissimilar nature of ANP support bases in these two areas and the nature of state coercive capacity which affects the party’s incentives for violence. I use a combination of qualitative evidence from Peshawar, Islamabad, and Karachi along with survey data to showcase key differences between Pashtun voters in Karachi and KP.