FC College Katchi Abadi: PML-N candidates hope to make inroads into PTI stronghold

Both parties have promised katchi abadi residents ownership rights

LAHORE:

In UC 203, both the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidates have promised to provide residents of katchi abadis ownership rights.

UC 203 comprises Inayat Colony, St Mary Colony, Khan Colony, the FC College katchi abadi and parts of Gulberg III. It is located in the heart of NA-126 and PP-152 constituencies.

In the 2013 general elections, PTI’s Shafqat Mahmood and Dr Murad Rass had won the National Assembly and Punjab Assembly seats from the area, respectively.

However, Syed Zahid Ali Bukhari, the PML-N candidate for chairman, hopes to defeat the PTI this time.

Two other candidates are also in the run for chairman. However, the real contest is between the PTI and the PML-N.

Bukhari’s campaign centres around the promise to provide ownership rights to residents of FC College Christian Colony, Inayat Colony, St Mary Colony and Khan Colony.



“The PML-N has a large vote bank in the katchi abadis. They know that government support is required to ensure any development work in an area. That is the key support for us in the area,” he says.

“A majority of voters in the FCC katachi abadi are Christians. The candidates are focusing on them,” says Ashraf Rehmat Rollo, the PML-N candidate for councillor from Ward 2. Rollo says that the colony has not been notified yet as a katchi abadi. “This is a sore point. If you can address that, you have their votes,” he says.

The FCC Christian Colony has been divided into three wards.

Waseem Bhatti, organiser of the PTI’s camp situated in front of the United Church in FCC Christian Colony, says that religion is not an issue in the campaign. “People here have lived in harmony, both Christians and Muslims…it is a fight for development issues, not religion,” he says.

Abdul Wakeel Khan is the PTI’s candidate for chairman. “Our campaign is based on two points: ownership rights for residents of katchi abadis and issuance of NADRA ID cards for the Pakhtun community [in Khan Colony],” he says. Wakeel is a resident of Khan Colony which has 2,000 registered voters.

He says that provision of drinking water and installation of filtration plants are also key campaign promises.

Khan says that the fact that people are annoyed with the government will help his cause.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2015.