TAXILA: A tug of war has started between the candidates of different political parties for the upcoming elections in the cantonment areas which are being held for the first time in the garrison city of Taxila.

Among the 43 cantonments across the country, the Taxila Cantonment has its own geo-political significance as it is a blend of rural and urban settings. On the one hand, there are well-planned and constructed residential areas such as Hassan Colony and Wahdat Colony and on the other, there are localities like Dhoke Wajjan and Bhir Dargahi with a typical rural culture and style of living.

Moreover, among the 24,000 registered voters in the area, a majority are settlers who came here during the last many years in connection with their employment in the defence industries, especially the Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT).

A large number of people from the tribal areas and even Afghanistan are also settled here.

The Afghan nationals have even obtained Pakistani computerised national identity cards and got themselves enrolled as voters.

These people would have a decisive role on the polling day. The Afghan nationals have strong financial resources and own businesses in transportation and stone crushing industries etc.

As the elections are being held for the first time in Taxila Cantonment, the candidates have started enthusiastic electioneering which is not the case in the twin city of Wah Cantonment.

Zaheer Hussain Shah Zaildar, a known political personality of the area, told Dawn that in the rural areas the clan factor would play a major factor while in urban areas more consideration would be given to the party ticket rather than personalities.

Khawaja Waqar advocate, the president of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Taxila chapter, said the turnout would be encouraging as elections are being held for the first time in the Taxila Cantonment.

He said the entry of the youth in the foray with mobilisation on the social media would also positively affect the turnout.

Dr Syed Sabir Ali, a political observer, added that the PML-N was trying to use the development projects launched in the area to win votes while the PTI candidates would try to win votes by exploiting the current over 16 hours daily power loadshedding and the unavailability of the ruling party leadership.

He said the PTI was utilising the social media to target the youth and this factor would play a decisive role on the polling day.

Ch Naseer Ahmed, a political activist, said the citizens were keen to elect their representatives for the cantonment board as due to the absence of a public representation in the board the civil-military bureaucracy ruled them.

Giving an example of the public grievances, he said the cantonment board office was located in the heavily-guarded complex where the ordinary residents could not get an access. So how their problems would be heard and resolved, he wondered.

Despite being an important garrison city with the presence of a number of political heavyweights such as Ch Nisar Ali Khan of the PML-N and Ghulam Sarwar Khan of the PTI, the area remained without a local government system for the last many decades. The residents always looked to the civil and military bureaucracy for the resolution of their basic problems.

The PML-N local leadership is participating in the cantonment board elections to break the influence of the PTI which won the MNA and MNA seats in the 2013 elections.

As the PTI has psychological supremacy in the area, the PML-N is also getting strong assurances from the PPP and PAT to support its candidates.

Whatever the outcome of the elections, one thing is for sure that the local residents would get rid of the colonial cantonment board rules and have a say in the decision-making process of the board after many decades.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2015

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