KARACHI: Fifty-four-year old Sajjad Ahmed, from the Landhi neighborhood of Karachi, says that he will exercise his right to vote for the first time although he has never abstained.
“I am excited that real elections are taking place in Karachi. My vote will be polled today, as always, and although I will poll it to the same party, I will be doing it myself, and it will be done with my consent,” Ahmed told Arab News.
Over a hundred meters away from the polling station, at Government Baldia Boys and Girls Secondary School in Landhi, the MoHajjir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) has set up a camp after 16 years. In May 2003, Baitul Hamza, the headquarters of MQM-H, situated only a few meters away from the same polling station, was demolished — after which the party workers could hardly move around freely.
“Credit goes to the Pakistan army and paramilitary rangers for restoring peace in our area. It is because of them that today all political parties, including ours, have been able to set up camps and campaign freely,” Muhammad Javed, camp in-charge of the MQM-H, told Arab News.
Afaq Ahmed from MQM-H, Asif Husnain from PSP and MQM-P’s Iqbal Muhammad Ali, among many other candidates, are contesting the constituency — NA-240, Landhi.
In Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s NA-243, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI’s) Imran Khan, MQM-P’s Ali Raza Abidi, Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP’s) Shehla Raza and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA’s) Dr. Osama Razi are the main contesters.
Mohsin Chandio, a PPP activist at Beacon House School polling station in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, who campaigns for Shehla Raza, said though his party’s camp is attracting fewer voters when compared to MQM-P, PTI and MMA, he is happy that he has one set up at least.
“Earlier, there would be no PPP camps in these areas due to the tension during election days,” Chandio said.
Mateen Ahmed, a local leader of the MQM-P at the Institute of Clinical Psychology, explained how people are coming to the MQM-P camp without any fear, proving that Karachiites still believe in MQM.
“Yes, there was most definitely a fear factor associated with the elections earlier, we admit it. But look, now you see all political party camps guiding electorates,” Ahmed told Arab News.
According to Ahmed, Altaf’s absence has not impacted the turnout; in fact, more people have been seen coming to cast their votes. “No one has paid any heed to Altaf bhai — this is not about him, this is about our survival,” Ahmed said.
Talking about the thriving competition surrounding the electoral camps, Mashail A Malik, an observer and researcher studying the politics of the megacity, told Arab News: “I have interviewed several men and women in two different constituencies with different socioeconomic backgrounds and have found electorates committed to their concerned parties.” Very few seem to have responded to boycott calls from the MQM founder, Malik said.
Most of the Urdu-speaking electorate population, especially women, interviewed by Arab News said that they were unaware of Altaf’s call for a boycott. “We haven’t heard any boycott calls because Altaf Hussain is banned from appearing on TV,” Rozina Rasheed, a MQM-P voter, said. However, a large number did say that the rationale demanded that the field not be left open for others.
“Only our own can take care of us,” said Asad Manzoor, a voter in Gulshan-e-Iqbal told Arab News, adding that in the past, it was a party-based election but today it was an ethnicity-based election. “We have to vote for an Urdu-speaking party for our own survival, that is why we have decided to go with the same party,” he said.
However, brothers Rizwan Ahmed and Rehan Ahmed said that they would vote for the PTI. “Up until 2013, we voted for MQM-P but since there is no single leadership we have decided to switch,” Rehan Ahmed said.
“Only results can determine where the voters of Karachi, who had been electing MQM for decades, will go.
“But whatever results come out, it will be a true representation because this is the first time in a long time that the people are exercising their right to vote without any fear,” Malik said.
Saleem Ahmed, a local police official who had been performing election duties for nearly 20 years, said that it could be the ideal elections. “In Karachi, elections have never been so peaceful. Altaf’s absence has helped us to conduct peaceful polls,” he said.
Although people were happy with the elections being peaceful, there were others who complained that their vote was shifted to other areas of the city.
Elections in the seaside metropolitan city have traditionally been violent, intimidating and with fake votes, all steeped in rigging allegations. The sigh of relief being taken by Karachi residents is proof of the loosened grip of the stranglehold the city previously experienced.
