February 18, 2008	Monday	Safar 10, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Feb 17: NA-54 Rawalpindi-V may not be a unique constituency in this respect but what the voter is watching with interest is the bashing in unison that the Q league is getting from traditional rivals, the PML-N and the PPP. Against each other they seem to have no word but the King’s party has virtually become their common passion.

The real contest in the garrison city constituency is triangular among former MNA Zamurad Khan of the PPP, former Punjab law minister Basharat Raja of the PML-Q and former MPA Malik Abrar Ahmed of the PML-N.

Since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the PML-Q has been on the receiving end of the criticism for the mess in the country ranging from turmoil in the tribal belt to judicial crisis, from the unprecedented scarcity of edibles to uncontrollable inflation.

It seems as if the candidates of opposition parties in NA-54 have joined hands against the PML-Q man, Basharat Raja, who is a close friend of party bosses from Gujrat and had entered the assembly courtesy Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi who gave him his by- election seat after he (Basharat) had lost the PP-6 seat to PML-N candidate.

The N leaguer has been censuring the former provincial minister for betraying party workers and the PPP candidate is attacking him for supporting President Musharraf. The Q league seems to be taking on both former rivals with the help of government functionaries.

The prospects of the three candidates are based on different considerations. The PPP candidate, Zamurad Khan, won the 2002 general elections securing 31,491. His nearest competitor was PML-N candidate Raja Zafarul Haq who secured 28,805 votes. He hopes to benefit from the so-called sympathy vote. Being a lawyer by profession he has been in the forefront of the movement for the reinstatement of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry which has won him the applause of the legal fraternity. But his party’s position on this issue is not as clear as that of the N league’s.

Though the cantonment area has been dominated by PML-N before 2002 general elections, the party candidate, Malik Abrar, is relatively new. His only hope is party votes from the pro-Nawaz swell and the public opinion in favour of the deposed judiciary’s restoration.

Basharat Raja is banking on the financial grants he got for the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board which had remained without funds for years. He has been citing different development projects such as water supply schemes and pavement of streets in the area. Though he enjoys majority in Qasimabad, Kamalabad, the poor condition of the roads and apathy of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board towards the problems of the inhabitants can damage the cause of the PML-Q.

In Punjab PP-9 constituency the real showdown is expected between former MPA Chaudhry Ayaz of the PML-N and PPP’s Chaudhry Waris Advocate.

Raja Moin Sultan of the PML-Q is the nephew of Basharat Raja and focuses mainly on party performance vote. The constituency has a total of 118,774 voters with 60,686 males and 58,088 female.

In 2002 elections Chaudhry Ayaz had secured 12,358 votes and his close contestant Waris Advocate bagged 10,786 votes.

In PP-10 the chief contestants are former MPA Malik Abrar Ahmed of the PML-N and PPP candidate Chaudhry Masood Akhtar. Other candidates include Raja Faisal Iqbal of the PML-Q. The constituency has 152,186 voters among whom 80,288 are male and 71,898 female voters. Malik Abrar secured 17,035 votes in 2002 elections and PPP candidate got 16,583. There was no PML-Q candidate in the contest last time from this seat.