October 14, 2002	Monday	Sha'aban 7, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Oct 13: In the general elections held on Thursday, the voters of religious minorities played a significant role in the success of the PPP candidates, says a report.

According to an assessment made by the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, 98 per cent votes of the minorities have gone to PPP candidates for National as well as provincial assemblies.

Sources with the APMA said concerted efforts were made to mobilise the minorities voters in favour of the People’s Party Parliamentarians candidates throughout the country.

The APMA, a representative body of all the religious minorities of Pakistan, had already entered into an electoral alliance with the PPP.

The PPP won 35 NA seats and 67 provincial from Punjab. After the landslide victory of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1970, this is the first time that PPP candidates have returned in such a good number with the support of minorities voters.

Meanwhile, just 35 days before the elections, a spate of terrorist attacks on Christian institutions and churches had sent a wave of fear among the minorities and there were apprehensions that they would not take much interest in the elections. The most recent killing of seven Christian workers of Idara-i-Amn-o-Insaaf in Karachi, had annoyed the Christian community by and large. They were not willing at all to vote for the pro-establishment, rightist or the religious parties.

There were other intimidations also, but the APMA workers worked hard and contributed greatly to the victory of PPP candidates in the constituencies where minorities concentration is in substantial number.