October 1, 2002	Tuesday	Rajab 23, 1423

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RAWALPINDI, Sept 30: Contest on almost all national assembly constituencies of Rawalpindi city is being looked at with great interest by the political observers here, but NA-54 (Rawalpindi Cantt) has draw special attention.

There are 10 candidates in the run from this constituency, but it is generally believed that it will remain, more or less, a contest between PML-N, PML-Z and PPP. However, the fight is more poised in favour of the PPP.

The PPP leader, Zamurad Khan, is facing Raja Zafarul Haq and Ijazul Haq, the heads of their respective factions of the PML.

Zamurad Khan is a local of the area, while Raja Zafarul Haq had been brought in for this seat only after PML-N failed to find a viable candidate to take up Ijazul Haq’s challenge.

Zafarul Haq at the time of nominations was expected to be the joint candidate of the PML-N and PPP, due to his ARD connection. Such an arrangement could have bolstered his position. Some later developments further strengthened this feeling and at one stage the PPP had even informally conveyed to Mr Khan that he would have to leave the race to accommodate the PML-N chairman.

Pressure from within the PPP ranks and certain other political expediencies prevented such an arrangement from materializing.

The PML-N, after its failed talks with the PPP, approached Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal to withdraw its candidate, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, in favour of Zafarul Haq, but they too failed to oblige the former leader of the house in the Senate.

This jeopardized the chances of Zafarul Haq of getting elected from NA-54, as he is relatively a stranger for the local voters, who only know him as a frontline national leader. Besides, Zamurad Khan had done a lot of homework much prior to the announcement of the election schedule, which gave him an added advantage.

The division of PML vote bank into three parts — the N, Z and Q factions, plus the subtraction of religious parties vote, which in the past went enbloc to the PML-N candidate has increased the chances of the PPP candidate manifold.

Ijazul Haq holds little or no chance of success. He has been elected thrice from this constituency on a PML-N ticket, but his rapid change of party loyalties has diminished his stature among the PML voters.

Mr Ijaz after defecting from PML-N had joined PML-QA, and was amongst its founding fathers, but just prior to the elections he announced that he was forming his own faction of PML — the PML-Z after he failed to clinch the office of PML-QA president.

His disloyal image forced PML-QA to put in its own candidate, Allama Ayaz Zaheer Hashmi, more for just a formal contest. But, this division will only damage the prospects of PML-N and PML-Z candidates rather than putting in a meaningful contest.

Other candidates from this constituency are Brig Nusrat Jehan Saleem (retired), Syed Zahid Abbas Kazmi, Syed Ghazanfar Ali Shah, Ghulam Qadir (PTI) and Maj Mehr Mohammad Ramzan (retired), but none of them have created any major stir in the political circles. Some of these faces are completely unknown to the voters.