KARACHI: Recent results from the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) website on the number of votes cast for each party give a great indication of the presence of so-called “burgers” in Karachi. Interestingly, there were a combined total of 52,104 burgers found in areas like Manora, Kemari and all the Goths. Korangi had 20,000, Orangi Metroville and Ghaziabad had around 38,000 burgers, and to everyone’s amusement, Landhi, yes Landhi, had a whopping 69,072 burgers living in it. Yes, they were not in majority in most of these areas, but the number of votes cast for the “burger” party clearly indicates that its message has reached the less affluent areas of the city, too.
On a serious note, why is the “burger” tag being attached in this manner? In fact, this politics of tagging extends to other parties, too. I believe that this indicates insecurity on the part of those who freely engage in labelling parties and individuals. People are told that they belong to a certain class, ethnicity or biradari and then are expected to stay within that domain and anyone from outside is considered an enemy and in this manner, the politics of ‘electables’ stays alive. Hence, a tag was needed for the tabdeeli party, too and the tag of ‘burger’ was found to be the most appropriate one. So, next time when people from Chanesar Goth or Lyari go out to vote, they will ask themselves whether they fit in with the ‘burgers’ or not, and then vote accordingly.
The tabdeeli party is to be blamed for this state of affairs as well. Why were the high profile protests that recently took place, largely limited to the so-called posh areas of Karachi? It would have helped if protests had also been held in areas falling in NA-252, NA-253 and NA-245 constituencies.
It is extremely important that the ECP look into allegations of rigging in 25 or so constituencies in Pakistan, which are believed to have gone the wrong way. It will not change the shape of parliament, but will at least help in shedding the creatively created web of “burger-ism” and help plant seeds of true change in the future.
Taimur Lodhi
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2013.
