Train en route to justice: Parties ‘march’ towards Rawalpindi for fair elections

Protesters are expected to present their demands to chief election commissioner.

KARACHI: The train march, led by members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and other opposition parties, departed for Rawalpindi from the Karachi Cantonment Railway on Sunday, to put forward the demands of  holding transparent elections and to end unabated targeted killings.

The march, which is led by JI’s provincial head, Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui, and includes hundreds of members of the opposition parties, is expected to arrive in Rawalpindi on March 6. The leaders of the opposition parties will present their demands to Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim in Islamabad.

A huge gathering of supporters saw the protesters off while chanting slogans condemning targeted killings and pre-poll rigging. “The protesters will receive a similar welcome from supporters at every station,” claimed JI spokesperson, Zahid Askari, while speaking to The Express Tribune.



Leaders from the opposition parties participating in the march, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-S, Awami Muslim League and Pakistan Democractic Party, addressed the supporters at the station. “The election commission has become an instrument to serve the evil powers in Karachi who cannot tolerate political rivals,” lamented a JI leader, Dr Siddiqui. He pointed out that the addition of 2.2 million voters to electoral rolls in Karachi after the verification process had been completed put the entire process in a dubious light. He also claimed that the opposition parties will ones again turn Karachi into “the city of lights”.

While speaking at the occasion, PML-N’s Saleem Zia insisted that the opposition parties were hoping for “elections and not selection”.

“Karachi burns today because its residents didn’t get the opportunity to choose their representatives in free and fair manner,” he claimed, while condemning the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for having a “fake mandate”. A leader from JUP, Owais Noorani, claimed that the Supreme Court’s 27-page order on Karachi unrest case to election commision exposed the arrogance of the commission, which, despite the court’s insistence, had failed to carry out the delimitation of constituencies.



“The train march is a referendum against target killers, extortionists and terrorists,” he added.

Mufti Usman Yar Khan from JUI-S, Mehfooz Yar Khan from AML and Basharat Mirza of PDP, also spoke at the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2013.