December 12, 2007	Wednesday	Zilhaj 1, 1428

LAHORE, Dec 11: Electioneering has finally started picking up in the city mainly because of the decision of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to take part in the elections.

“Lahore has been missing its traditional election gusto but the campaign has finally started picking up because of the involvement of the PML-N candidates and activists,” Muhammad Asghar of Islampura said during a visit to the locality on Tuesday.

The candidates have been cautious in running their election campaign, waiting for the clearance of the political situation at the national level, and assessing which party has the winning prospects.

When the PML-N decided not to leave the field open, the candidates started holding corner meetings and opening offices to muster support of the people.

But still the election campaign of PML-N and PPP is in full swing. The PML-Q too is following the trail but it has dominated the city’s lampposts by hanging its election symbol.

Pervaiz Elahi and Shujaat Husain have not reportedly visited any area. But, they have started their campaign through the electronic media, a costly option which all other parties are ignoring so far.

Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi appears to be working overtime to run his campaign and to muster support for his party.

Reports indicate their party flags and posters carrying their election symbol bicycle have been allegedly hung on the lampposts by government officials and without any payment to the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) which sells space for any advertisement anywhere in the city.

PHA Director-General Raja Muhammad Abbas nevertheless told Dawn that the PML had sought permission for the display of its posters and had paid around a Rs1.2 million rent. “We will allow anyone seeking permission to display the posters if we have space available for them,” he said.

The Walled City and the adjacent Gowalmandi, which have been the nerve centre of electioneering in the past, are yet to come up to their reputation primarily due to the reason that the nomination papers of their two candidates of the constituencies — Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif — have been rejected.

A number of PML-N supporters from these localities who would always spearhead the party election campaign with their numerical strength and overwhelming support for Mr Nawaz Sharif, stand divided, and are generally silent.

The main PML-N office on Nisbet Road carries huge portraits of the Sharif brothers, and banners heralding their arrival in Pakistan. But it was found closed during the day with no-one there to campaign for the party.

Lohari Gate, another stronghold of the PML-N after the 1990 elections, has been missing the election campaign which used to pick up because of committed workers and special interest by Shahbaz Sharif.

But the electioneering have picked up there to some extent because of the visit of Hamza Sharif there on Sunday. Mr Hamza not only met the old comrades of the party in the narrow streets of Lohari Gate but also created ripples in the opponent camps of the PPP and the PML-N’s former diehard Haji Hanif.

Haji Hanif whose papers have been rejected watched the situation cautiously but the acceptance of the appeal against the rejection of his son’s nomination papers on Tuesday put him in full action.

He started the campaign of Azim Hanif with full vigour in the evening with a show of fireworks. Sweets were distributed and slogans were chanted probably to counter the attempt by Mr Hamza Shahbaz to revive the PML-N influence in the area.

Elsewhere in the city, there are no traditional processions or election hullabaloo, indicating that the candidates are saving a lot of money, and time. Even Defence from where PML-Q’s Humayun Akhtar Khan is contesting the election is relatively calm. Mr Khan is known for his lavish election campaigns but this is not being reflected this time.

The same trend is being followed by his opponents like PPP’s Naveed Chaudhry and it was stated that these candidates prefer to personally meet their voters.

Model Town is one area where one can see banners and posters of the candidates but again the campaign is in low tempo and the focus is on corner meetings. —Intikhab Hanif