By Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD, March 19: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) allocated election symbols to 144 political parties on Tuesday, but deferred a decision on the allotment of “arrow”, sought by three parties, including the PPP-Parliamentarians. Besides it, Ghinwa Bhutto’s PPP-Shaheed Bhutto also could not get the symbol. Interestingly, the way for allocation of symbols to both of them was blocked by a party yet to be registered with the ECP. A group of estranged PPP-P leaders, headed by Naheed Khan -- a close associate of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto -- have applied for registration of their party as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Since the party had included both “arrow” and “sword” in the list of symbols sought by it, the commission deferred the decision till March 25. The PPP-P, which had contested the 2008 and 2002 elections with the symbol of “arrow”, had mentioned it as its only choice. The PPP-SB, which had contested polls from 1997 to 2008 with “fist” as its symbol, had this time put “sword” on top of the list of symbols of its choice, followed by “fist” and “dove”. Most mainstream political parties were given their traditional symbols. The PML-N got “tiger” — a symbol it has been using since 1993. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was allotted the symbol of “kite”, the PML-Q “cycle” and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) “scale”. Similarly, the Awami National Party retained the symbol of “lantern” and the JUI-F “book”. The PML-F was given “rose”. The party has contested two previous elections with this symbol. Imran Khan’s Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), which had contested the 1997 and 2002 elections with the symbols of ‘lamp’ and ‘bat’ respectively, got “bat” again. The party had initially applied for “scale”, but since it is a traditional symbol of the JI and after an adverse decision of the ECP, it applied for “bat” as the first priority, followed by “torch” and “mountain”. “Bat” was the first priority also for the Roshan Pakistan Party, which had contested the 2008 elections with the symbol, but the decision went in favour of the PTI. Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan’s Tehrik Tahaffuz-i-Pakistan got “missile” as symbol. Former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) was given “cannon” as its election symbol and the Pakistan Freedom Party “eagle” on which it had contested previous elections. But after the decision, APML leaders approached the commission with an allegation that the Freedom Party was supporter of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and hence the symbol should not be allotted to it. Though apparently support for any group had nothing to do with the allocation of symbols, the decision was reversed and the “eagle” went to the APML. The Balochistan National Party (BNP) also got its traditional symbol “axe”. It has been using it since 1997. The BNP-A was allotted “camel”, a symbol allotted to it for the 2002 elections too. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s Awami Muslim League (AMLP) was given “inkpot with pen” and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party “tree”. It has previously contested elections from 1990 to 2002 with the symbol. The most sought after symbols of “sun” and “crescent” went to the Pakistan Christian Movement and the Hazara Democratic Party respectively through a draw. The Sunni Ittehad Council also won the symbol of “horse” through draw. Draws were also held for some other symbols, including “umbrella” and “human hand”, as more than one party sought these.