KARACHI, April 14: The upcoming referendum has put the city district government in a predicament.
The major parties- the Jamaat-i-Islami and the PPP- opposing the referendum enjoy hold over the newly elected houses under the devolution plan. According to a survey, in the 18 towns of the city the JI-supported Nazims are 10, while the number of the PPP and ANP-supported Nazims is eight.
In the 178 union councils, the JI-backed Nazims are 76, the PPP-supported ones are 20 in number, while the rest of the Nazims represent minor parties or are independent.
The situation is different in other cities of the country where the local governments mostly comprise independents.
While the administration is busy making arrangements for the referendum rally in the Karachi which also happens to be the hometown of Gen Musharraf, Nazim Karachi Naimatullah Khan, who is also a former JI city chief, is on a visit to China to observe the operation of metro train which is also expected to be launched in Karachi.
This project is said to be aimed at solving the transport problem in the city. In th past there have been announcements to the effect that the city would have a modern transport system in the form of underground tube, mass transit system, light train and long busses. But no step forward was taken.
The Nazim is expected to return on April 21, and after that he will proceed to Turkey on an official visit. According to the city government, the Nazim’s visits to China and Turkey were planned much before the announcement of the referendum.
The town and union council chiefs also appear unenthusiastic about the referendum. But Naib Nazim Tariq Hasan, whose past affiliation has been with the PML (Q), is different story. Consequently the responsibility of organising the rally for the referendum on April 28 in the city rests on the shoulders of the administrative machinery and the councillors with affiliations to the PML(Q), led By Tariq Hasan.
All the councillors were elected in a party-less election, and as such they are not bound to stick to the stands of their respective parties and not to attend the referendum rally of Gen Pervez Musharraf. But certainly they don’t want to become part of “his army”.
Gen Pervez Musharraf has been on a whirlwind tour of the country since April 6 when he formally announced his decision to seek mandate from the people for a full five-year term of presidency through a referendum.
Gen Musharraf’s campaign, which started from his address to the nation, is to last for 24 days as the referendum is scheduled for April 30. Since his first meeting in Lahore on April 9, he has addressed large public rallies in all the four provinces.
Like Gen Zia-ul-Haque, who had asked for support on the basis of his record, Gen Musharraf is seeking mandate on the basis of his record of the last two-and-half years and for the continuity of what he calls the reforms affected by him.
The state machinery has always managed the stage for the party in power. Instant loyalty is an established virtue of the bureaucracy on such occasions. It always manages to deliver.
Such management requires administrative skills, loyalty to those in power and the ability to use the state apparatus in the interest of the government. So for them there will be no difficulty in arranging the referendum rally in Karachi on April 28, even if the Nazim and his colleagues give the president a cold response. The government’s own institutions are there to deliver the goods.
