Army-controlled constituency: Will PTI break PML-N’s NA-125 winning streak?

Candidates on both sides upbeat about election results.

LAHORE:

NA-125 has a record of returning Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidates, but this time Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf appears to have a lot of support this time promising a close contest between PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafique and PTI’s Hamid Khan.

Election offices of both the parties are over-flowing with campaign workers and supporters at any given time.

The constituency comprised 18 union councils. The cantonment area has 15 villages, most of which are turning into urban settlement. The city is said to be expanding from this constituency rapidly with new housing schemes and infrastructure. The Allama Iqbal International Airport and the Ring Road have significantly added to the value of properties in the area.

Rafique’s supporters are confident of a PML-N victory in the area saying that Khan, a former Supreme Court Bar Association president who was also a prominent figure in the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of superior court judges, has not been very active in the campaign.

Major issues

Cantonment is seen as a major problem in the constituency. Civilian residents complain of lack of access to many facilities, including the public parks. Most civilian residents say getting cantonment offices to do something is “the most difficult thing”.

The urban areas have carpeted roads and streetlights, but the rural villages lack infrastructure, including proper sewerage. Water filtration plants were installed in most areas over the last five years. No major sewerage project got off despite a couple of proposals and several meetings with the divisional commissioner.

Residents of areas along Bedian Road are the worst off. The road has seen several construction and repair initiatives in the last five years, but parts of it are still in a dilapidated condition.

Majid Shakoor, a 55-year-old resident of Saddar, says none of the lawmakers from the constituency has been able to solve the problems people face.

He also talks of the lack of a public park in his neighbourhood and the fact that only army families are permitted to enter parks in the cantonment. Even for regulation work requests, he says, staff at the cantonment offices have to be bribed.

“Older people in my area are not hopeful about a positive change ...Most of them do not want to vote. But the younger lot are pressing us to try PTI this time.”



Promises

At his corner meetings, Rafique says he will seek fresh delimitation of the cantonment. He says Rs3.5 billion was spent on various infrastructure projects in the area over his term. If elected, he says, he would solve the sewerage problems and complete the pending development works.

But some of the residents say they haven’t seen much development besides the roads leading to the airport.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Khan said there was a dire need for legislation in the Cantonment Act, 1924. He said since its introduction, no solid amendments had been made in the act to facilitate the civilians, who he said, were greater in number than army residents. He promises to make a new legislation for the cantonments if elected.

While Khan denies being inactive in the election campaigning, he admits he hasn’t been able to go door-to-door due to shortage of time.

“The PTI youth are taking care of that, while I am focusing on our weak areas.”



PP-155

PML-N’s Mian Naseer Ahmad and PTI’s Hafiz Farhat Abbas are leading the race for the provincial seat in PP-155. While Abbas hopes to give Ahmad “a tough time”, Ahmad is seen to be having an edge over his rival.

Thirty-nine candidates are running from this constituency. Of these, only eight are affiliated with political parties, while the rest are independent. PPP’s Ashraf Bhatti is rarely seen in person as well as through campaign banners and posters.

PP-156

PTI’s Ahsan Rasheed is predicted by many to beat his PML-N rival Yasin Sohail, who won the 2008 elections. As many as 31 candidates are running from this seat, of which only nine have party tickets.

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Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2013.