December 19, 2007	Wednesday	Zilhaj 8, 1428

MUZAFFARGARH, Dec 18: Eunuchs or heejras have announced that they will boycott the Jan 8 elections in Muzaffargarh district.

Dawn learnt that a meeting of eunuchs was held at a Khangarh hotel on Sunday last where all the gurus of heejras were present. Addressing them, Reema said that they had been forced to come out of the poll activities since no candidates had contacted them for election campaign or for vote. She said the meeting wanted the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) or the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in power after the Jan 8 elections as these parties in their previous power tenures had given them a lot of relief.

Sahil, a guru of the heejras, said that in the last elections they had given their votes to the PML-Q candidates, but the PML-Q men did not help them after winning the elections. For the Jan 8 elections, she said, first of they decided to give their votes to the PPP because of their liberal agenda but no candidate from the PPP contacted them.

She said their announcement regarding the boycott was final and if their senior gurus from other parts of the country did not approve of the boycott, they would go for the PML-N. She said the local PML-N leaders were generous towards them and gave them a handsome tip.

Sania, another participant, said there were 400 plus heejras in the district and thousands in the country, so the political parties should not underestimate their potential.