KARACHI: Leave alone a tent, you put up even as much as a pole in Defence Housing Authority and you are inviting trouble for yourself in the form of that wailing siren yelping at you as the vigilance van approaches to undo the damage.

The situation is not very different in the other cantonment areas as well so their elections coming up after 17 years offered a change of scene on Saturday with banners on poles and tents coming up overnight.

The system in the cantonment’s corridors of power is such that no matter which civilian wins in the elections, the military keeps the upper hand. So what use is such an election?

“Well, you need one of your own to represent you. Your road needs carpeting, your children must have proper cantonment board birth certificates, you need help with your property tax, you are facing water shortage, you need assistance with paperwork for the burial of a loved one, etc, etc. The majors and brigadiers take care of their own. Who do you think will take up your issues? Your local representative, of course,” explained Shaukat Zia, campaigning for a private candidate in Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) Ward 1 in DHA Phase-I.

The candidate himself, with dice as his symbol, was running around, trying to gather voters for himself, under the hot sun. “Today he can take as much sun as he can. But when he wins he along with you all will be in the shade for three to four years,” joked the friend.

The private candidates all over had to make do with some weird election symbols from corn on the cob, refrigerator, air conditioner to transformer, calculator, etc. But the most prominent candidates, belonged to the parties, of course — Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Though there were no such touching scenes where old folk are being helped to the polling stations or the disabled in wheelchairs come to exercise their voting rights, each area’s polling camps presented a different and contrasting atmosphere. There was laughter and carnival-like atmosphere in the PTI camps in DHA and Clifton. Men and women sporting party caps and scarves seemed to be doing very well as they zoomed around in their decorated vehicles.

“Hey, all the five voters I called, came to vote!” screamed an excited PTI volunteer to another enjoying ice cream and offering to buy her a chocbar as her reward at Sea View.

“Hey Aunty, if you are done voting and all, please come this side and help us pull out more voters from their homes,” said another young PTI volunteer calling out to a voter coming out of the polling station at Clifton. A drive in the opposite direction, to Faisal Cantonment, saw women in the MQM camps all smiles as they looked for voters’ names on the lists or checked their polling stations through their cellphones. “We have been here since early morning, around 6.30am, after having cooked enough food for our families at home as we intend to stay here for the celebrations afterwards also,” said Afshan Adil, who was there with her 10-year-old daughter Bisma. “My daughter also wanted to come and help so I let her. These elections are happening after 17 years, God knows when they will happen next. I want my little girl to remember this time,” the mother said.

And how come they have managed to remain so cheerful and fresh all this time, one MQM volunteer was asked near closing time. “We are here for our Quaid, it makes us happy to work for the betterment of our people,” said Lubna Fahim and Vania Khan, two volunteers, in unison.

And how were the JI campers doing in the morale department? “We felt better and re-energised after saying our Zuhr prayers,” said a JI lady. Meanwhile, a gentleman facilitating the odd voter that ended up at their camp said he didn’t see the cantonment elections as a waste of time and energy. “The first step is coming out to vote. After that anything can happen. Who says the system can’t change? It did change in Egypt, did it not?” Saeed Ahmed, the gentleman, opined.

Attendance of voters on the whole remained thin throughout the day. In some areas, one couldn’t even find polling stations as the front gates of the school where polling was to take place were closed shut. Had it not been for those Atlaf Hussain picture banners with hands raised in prayer to guide one through the back streets, one might have missed the destination completely. And once there, one would find only the MQM workers willing to assist people as JI could be missed easily and PTI just couldn’t be found! “Well, no problem, we are here to help you no matter who you decide to vote for,” smiled MQM worker Mohammad Imran.

“The attendance of voters has not been too satisfactory due to the fear factor,” said Samina Parveen, an MQM volunteer. “By fear I don’t mean Imran Khan’s phobia, it is this humour in uniform that keeps repeating itself every 15 minutes or so when these army and Rangers mobile vans come blowing their sirens while displaying their weapons. Who are they trying to impress? We are just a bunch of civilians here with only our mobile phones. We can only retaliate through the disapproval on our faces.”

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

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