| January 23, 2003 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 19, 1423 |
The cycle-rickshaw menace
SOME old faces, who are known for their pelf and power, have also filed their nomination papers for the Senate elections and made the ensuing contest interesting in the province.
Former senators Commander Khalil and Gulzar Khan have stunned and frightened the political parties which have, so far, been certain to secure their fixed seats in the forthcoming Senate elections. The Pakistan Muslim League-Q has allotted a ticket to Commander Khalil on Tuesday. Gulzar Khan has also fielded his son, Waqar Khan, as an independent candidate.
Both, the former senators, Gulzar and Khalil, are hopeful about their success. They may succeed in making a dent in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and win over some of the wavering MPAs of the religious alliance.
The provincial capital is rife with rumours that more than 70 MPAs have been advised by their political masters to behave in a pliant manner. The MMA, the PML-N and the People’s Party Parliamentarians are feeling themselves in trouble following the striking entry of wealthy people in the race.
The five opposition parties: the PML-N, the PML-Q, the PPP, the ANP and the PPP-Sherpao, who have finalised their seat arrangements; accused the MMA for paving a way for horse-trading. The MMA, which will be having four additional MPAs after bagging 12 Senate seats, wants to field Azam Swati, a former Nazim of Mansehra. Swati will have to manage five extra voters for himself. “If, the MMA gets 12 seats, it should leave 10 remaining seats for the opposition alliance,” said Abdul Akbar Khan of the PPP.
Maulana Samiul Haq, whose Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam is a component of the MMA, has asked the federal and provincial governments to check horse-trading as it would spoil the system. The Maulana also filed a second set of his nomination papers on Wednesday.
The five independent MPAs, who have formed their own group in the House and deemed it fit not to join any of the parliamentary groups, will vote for the independent candidates. Some other MPAs who had won as independent candidates in the general elections but, later, joined the MMA and the PML-Q, may rethink about the importance of their ‘expensive’ votes.
The independent MPAs can send two senators on general seats to Islamabad. If, Abbas Sarfaraz, who had bagged the Senate seat in 1997, enters the race, he has enough chances to win a seat as most of the MPAs want to send independent senators to Islamabad.
Amir Muqam, Jamaat-i-Islami MNA from Shangla, had made a dent in the MMA when he voted in favour of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Dec 30 last. His uncle, MPA Pir Mohammad Khan, had pushed the MMA in a crisis by getting a taxes-free resolution passed from the House. It is not a good omen for the MMA, which is tangled in a controversy over the ticket allotment amongst its components.
The simple and honest MPAs, who won the elections for the first time, or may be for the last time, have observed some kinks in the words and deeds of their leaders in the past few months, may take a new and alien path. After all, they too live in a mundane world.
The ANP has rightly decided to bring its chief, Asfandyar Wali, out of the political seclusion by allotting him Senate ticket. This will make an impact on the future politics of the country.
Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has allotted party ticket to PPP NWFP Senior Vice-President, Syed Qamar Abbas. Later, Bhutto also told Sardar Ali Khan, a former MNA from Pabbi, to file his nomination papers. A retired air force official, who had joined the party during the general elections, has quit the PPP after he failed to get the party ticket.
Qamar told Dawn that he would abide by party decision, but he hoped that the PPP would not abandon its principled stand and refuse to give in to the political expediency.
The PPP-S has put up Aneesa Zeb, Shujaul Mukl and Asif Khan for Senate seats.
The PML-Q members in the House are not in favour of any person other than from Hazara to be awarded with a Senate seat. The party is not willing to pay any heed to the disgruntled MPAs, opposing the candidature of the party candidate. The MPAs want a ticket for some one from their region.
The PML-Q has awarded tickets to Eng. Fazal Hussain, Commander Khalil and Begum Fakhar Zaman.
The PML-N, which has only five MPAs, is also confronted with a critical situation. However, former chief minister Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi has filed his nomination papers.
MIANWALI is a land of geographic variations. Sky-high barren mountains of the Salt Range rich in minerals, tall sand dunes of Thal desert, lush green fields, thick forests of Kundian, natural lake of Namal and the meandering Indus all add to its beauty.
Like its soil the people are also different from those of other parts of the country. They are strong and warlike eager to preserve their heritage and customs.
Abject poverty in the hilly areas of Kalabagh makes women knit hand-fans from the leaves of date palm. Their day-long toil brings them a pittance, hardly 30 to 50 rupees. However, the businessmen earn thousands by transporting truck loads of hand-fans to all parts of the country.
Drug trafficking is a flourishing business of this area. Many notables are involved in this lucrative trade. Poverty coupled with the presence of an Afghan refugee camp at Kot Chandan has made it easy. Drug-traffickers called “Karaya Kash” bring all sorts of contraband, chiefly narcotics on their backs up to Kamarmishani or at some secret place in Katcha. This nefarious business has given Mianwali the name of “gateway of narcotics”.
Kalabagh is one of the ancient towns of the district. The city was built on the tallest mountain of the Salt Range. Its streets are so dark and narrow that the sun barely peeps through them. But the structures built on the river bank like the Boahar Bungalow, Civil Rest House, castles of Nawab of Kalabagh and the houses of the newly rich present a majestic look. Above all, the century-old narrow gauge railway bridge adds to the beauty and tranquillity of the area.
The city’s original inhabitants are either working in mines or driving cycle-rickshaws or rowing boats in the river Indus. It is a hilly area and rickshaw driving is an arduous job.
Hard work and low wage effect the health of the drivers, many of whom have developed infectious diseases, including TB. Economic strain has made them escapists. They find solace in drugs, with 20 out of 100 addicted to heroin. Mohammad Mukhtiar said he had been driving rickshaw for the last 10 years and become a TB patient but could not leave the job because of his four children.
A survey conducted by Dawn revealed that out of the 71 cycle-rickshaws of Kalabagh, 50 are used for transporting passengers. The remaining are used for carrying goods to the upper parts of the town. A new rickshaw costs Rs5,000, but there are many drivers who cannot afford even this much, so they drive rented rickshaws which cost them Rs25 a day.
Abdul Ghaffar, 55, is the oldest rickshaw driver with an experience of 40 years. Mukhtiar, an intermediate, is driving rickshaw because he could not find any other job. Many young people have entered this profession. Rickshaw drivers charge only Rs3 per passenger from the Main Market to Shakar Dara Chowk, a distance of about one kilometre.
Normally, a rickshaw carries six passengers (three at the front and three at the back) but in some cases they also carry two additional passengers. The goods rickshaws charge Rs15 per trip up to the end of the town. This back-breaking labour exhausts the driver. The passengers are also poor, and they are reluctant to pay Rs5 to Suzuki vans. It is very strange that no auto-rickshaw is available in Kalabagh.
The local representatives of Human Right Commission of Pakistan and other social circles have appealed to the president and the prime minister to abolish the cycle-rickshaw from here by providing soft loans to rickshaw drivers so that they could earn their living by driving auto-rickshaws. A rehabilitation centre for the treatment of the addicts should be set up at Kalabagh and a similar facility should be established for the treatment of TB patients.