KARACHI, Sept 3: With only 37 days left for electioneering, no political activities can be seen anywhere in the city, except for a few corner meetings here and there by individual candidates and party leaders.
Karachi, the city that used to set the pace of political activity in the country, keeps yawning for want of electioneering. Though the ban on outdoor political activities was lifted on September 1, no party has so far drawn any programme to hold the meeting at any central place to project its manifesto.
Besides the few corner meetings which were going on even before the lifting of the ban, the only other activities that can be termed election-related are the protests, in certain parts of the city, by PPP workers against the rejection of the papers of their party’s chief and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.
The protest against the rejection is likely to be the take-off point of the PPP’s election campaign. Against the backdrop of the acceptance of the nomination papers of the PML(N) leadership— Nawaz Sharif, Shabaz Sharif and Kulsoom Nawaz in the Punjab— the rejection of Benazir Bhutto’s papers has caused a wave of sympathy in Sindh for the party.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has installed its election symbol- Kite- at in various places in the metropolis. This party, well-entrenched in the city, appears to be formulating its strategy. For the Muttahida, organising public meetings is not an issue which requires articulate planning. Its past record shows that it can hold public meetings at a very short notice. The lacklustre situation is particularly disappointing to painters, banner-writers and decorators who did a roaring business in the previous elections.
When Imdad Hussain Chandio, Sindh president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), was asked if they had planned any public meeting in the city, he said that at the moment they were busy mobilizing party workers and supporters by holding party meetings in different parts of the city.
“Even now we are in the midst of a meeting in Keamari being addressed by our NA-239 candidate Mian Ejaz Shafi...We will certainly go for organizing massive public meetings, but only after Sept 15 when the final list of candidates will have been published by the Election Commission”, said Mr Chandio. The PML(N) has withdrawn two candidates in Hala from NA-218 and PA-43 in support Makhdoom Amin Faheem and Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman of the People’s Party Parliamentarians.
About this seat adjustment, Mian Ejaz Shafi, senior vice-president of the party, said that the top leadership of the two parties were in touch with each other and the outcome would definitely be in the interest of democracy.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal is also busy holding corner meetings. The most active component of the alliance appears to be the Jamaat-i-Islmai with its well-organized cadre and units. The MMA has planned centralized public meetings at the national level that will be addressed collectively by the MMA leadership.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, which at the moment is engaged in a solo flight, has been carrying out low-profile activities. According to Imran Ismail, a PTI leader, large public meetings will be arranged following their chairman Imran Khan’s return tonight from London.
The Sindh Democratic Alliance seems to have planned no public meeting. It has fielded eight NA and 20 PA candidates from Karachi. SDA leader Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh is busy sorting out matters with the National Alliance and the Grand National Alliance to finalize the list of candidates.
appeals FILED: The Sindh Election Appeal Tribunal (SEAT), on Tuesday, the first day of filing appeals against rejection of nomination papers of candidates contesting elections on national and provincial constituencies of Sindh, received appeals from of three candidates, adds PPI.
These candidates’ papers were rejected on the grounds that their proposers did not belong to the same constituencies. They are Lakshmen Magawar, an independent from PS- 61 Miththi, Tharparkar-1, Khawaja Habibullah of the Millat Party who filed papers from PS-148 Karachi and Sheikh Irfan Aziz Advocate of the PPP (SB) from NA-253 Karachi.
September 6, 2002, is the last date to file appeals against acceptance/rejection of nomination papers.
KARACHI, Sept 3: With only 37 days left for electioneering, no political activities can be seen anywhere in the city, except for a few corner meetings here and there by individual candidates and party leaders.
