February 17, 2008	Sunday	Safar 09, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 16: A close fight is expected between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on the National Assembly seat NA-239 in former district west, covering a 50-kilometre coastal belt areas right from Keamari up to Hawksbay.

Apart from the coastal areas, the constituency includes rural areas, katchi abadis and some parts of Baldia Town. The population largely comprises Sindhi (mostly fishermen), Baloch, Gujarati-speaking communities, but Pakhtoon, Punjabi, Hazara and Urdu-speaking also dwell here in sizeable numbers. A large number of people are involved in fishing or related activity or engaged in dock or port functions.

In the 70s, it was a strong support base of the PPP. However, the situation changed in the 80s with the change in demography as Pakhtoons and Punjabis entered the fisheries sector and got employed in shipyard and dockyard. Later, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the MQM made inroads into the constituency. The Awami National Party also commands considerable influence in the areas dominated by Pakhtoon and Punjabi populace.

The PPP, MQM and PML-N had won in the elections of 1988, 1990 and 1993 respectively. In 1997 elections, the PML-N retained the seat while in the 2002 elections the Muttahida Majlisi-i-Amal candidate defeated the PPP candidate with a narrow margin of a few hundred votes.

PPP’s Syed Amir Hyder Kazmi won the 1988 election by securing 33,606 votes closely followed by Mohammad Amin Lakhani who got 33,403 votes and the ANP’s Haji Mohammad Sher Khan (12,370).

MQM-HPG’s Mohammad Irfan won this seat in the 1990 elections by securing 50,042 against his rival Abdul Ghani of the PDA who got 45,604 votes while Awami National Party’s Fazal Karim Khan received 15,120 votes.

PML-N’s Mian Ijaz Shafi defeated PPP’s Syed Masoor Ahsan with a narrow margin by securing 32,937 votes against 32, 671 votes in the 1993 polls. Mr Shafi retained the seat in 1997 elections by obtaining 35,451 votes defeating his close rival MQM’s Irfan Khan, who got 32,668 votes. PPP’s Naseerullah Babar secured 23,512 and ANP’s Mohammad Hanif Khattak got 2,705 votes.

In the 2002 election, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, an alliance of six religious parties, upset the vote bank of national parties by securing more than 22,000 votes and its candidate Qari Rehman defeated PPP’s Iftikhar Hussain with a narrow margin of a few hundred votes. The MQM had got 11,199 votes in the last polls.

Sympathy votes

The situation stands changed now with the sympathy factor in favour of the PPP after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The PPP has a strong support base in the fishermen community of the coastal and rural areas of this constituency though the results of the past elections showed that the MQM also enjoyed considerable clout among the populace, particularly among the Urdu- and Gujrati-speaking people.

This time the PPP has fielded a senior party leader Abdul Qadir Patel. Equally powerful candidates in the field are MQM’s K.S. Mujahid Baloch, who fought as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam and got more than 4,000 votes in the last elections, PML-Q’s Amanullah Khan Paracha, JUI-MMA’s Qari Usman. PPP’s dissident Iftikhar Hussain and Halim Siddiqui are also fighting as independent candidates.