Living by the sea, residents of NA-248 crave drinking water

The three islands falling within the constituency lack basic amenities

KARACHI: The NA-248 constituency in District West covers the seaport of Keamari and the western part of the city's coastline till it meets Balochistan. The beaches of Hawkes Bay, Sandspit, French Beach and Paradise Point are some of the most sought after picnic spots in the city as people from all areas of Karachi throng there to bathe in seawater and enjoy the crashing waves.

It is through Keamari port that the trade based on exports and imports keeps the country's economy moving. However, the economic indicators of people living in the localities of NA-248 are not very promising as the constituency is largely underdeveloped and includes several rural pockets, slums and impoverished islands.

After the new delimitation, the entire sub-divisions of Harbour and Mauripur, and the Manora Cantonment Board have become a part of NA-248, which also includes some of the areas of SITE and municipal sub-divisions. Some of the locations of the constituency include Machhar Colony, Sultanabad, Ittehad Town, Gulshan-e-Sikandarabad, Masan Road, Customs Line, Railway Colony, Jackson Bazaar, Docks Colony, Gulbai, Kachi Muhalla, Mochko Deh, Sahafi Colony, Mawach Goth, Saadullah Goth, Saeedabad Sector 8 and areas of Baldia Town. The constituency also features Pakistan Air Force Masroor Base, the largest air base of the country. Adjacent to Keamari lie West Wharf Industrial Area and Karachi Fisheries Harbour that also lie in NA-248.

Apart from these inland areas, three inhabited islands, Baba Island, Shamspir Island and Bhit Island, are also included in the constituency.

The constituency comprises two entire provincial constituencies, PS-112 and PS-113, along with some portion of PS-114.



Past trends

Due to a large number of non-Urdu-speaking people living in Mauripur and Harbour sub-divisions, these areas have not often voted for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which has been inarguably the strongest political party of the city in terms of electoral results.

Though the MQM was able to clinch the seat comprising the Mauripur belt in the 1990 elections, it was secured by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1988 and by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 1993 and 1997.

In the 2002 elections, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) emerged triumphant with Qari Gul Rehman securing the seat which was NA-239 at that time. The PPP reclaimed the seat after 20 years in the 2008 as its candidate Abdul Qadir Patel was declared the winner. In the general elections of 2013, MQM's candidate Salman Baloch returned from the constituency.

Some areas that have been included in the Mauripur constituency after the new delimitation were earlier part of NA-240 before. The seat was secured by MQM's Sohail Mansoor Khawaja in the last elections.

The PML-N managed to win a provincial seat, former PS-89, in the last elections which falls in NA-248.

General issues

Severe water shortage is the greatest problem being faced by the residents of many areas of NA-248, including Keamari, Sultanabad, Majeed Colony, Saeedabad, Gulshan-e-Mazdoor, Gulbai, Shershah and others.

Roads and streets in the constituency are mostly bumpy causing commuters to face trouble. Even the major artery of Mauripur Road is in a dilapidated state and movement of heavy traffic has caused deep holes. Lack of solid waste disposal is another major issue of the constituency.

Due to lack of infrastructure, many residential schemes in the constituency are not being inhabited. Plot owners are reluctant to construct houses because of absence of electricity, water and other facilities.



Life on islands

Life is rough for the inhabitants of the three islands in NA-248, who mostly belong to fishing community. They islands are severely underdeveloped and its peoples have been living in penury. Unemployment, non-availability of potable water, lack of health and education facilities are major issues of Baba, Bhit and Shamspir islands.

According to the latest census, the population of the three islands is 20,202 with 3,476 total housing units. The ratio of total registered voters is more than 60% with 7,080 male and 5,796 female voters. Baba Island is the most populated of the three with 8,404 people living there. The least population is of Shamspir Island with 4,329 dwellers.

The islands come under District West's union council (UC) 41. UC 41 Vice-Chairman Ahsraf Bhatti informed The Express Tribune that a majority of the population in the three islands catches fish to earn their living and their lives become miserable when the government imposes ban on fishing.

In the months of June and July, the government bans fishing because fishes breed during these months. Due to this, the island dwellers become jobless and they have no means of earning. The governments in the past have been pressed multiple times to either create some jobs for the fishing community during breeding season or fix some unemployment allowance for them, however, no step has been taken as of now to mitigate the plight of the island inhabitants.

According to Bhatti, unavailability of potable water was the biggest issue for the residents of the islands. During the last city government's tenure, water lines were laid, however, no water was supplied through them, he stated, adding that although free water can be fetched from a pumping station located near Native Jetty Bridge, it has still to be transported to the islands through boats, due to which it becomes unaffordable. The price of a drum of water is Rs200, whereas, a tank of 1,200 gallons costs approximately Rs3,000, the UC vice-chairman said.

Since there is no hospital in the islands, patients have to be taken on boats to the main city in case of emergency. The situation becomes problematic during night hours as boats are not operated at night, causing misery for patients.

Contestants in the run

MQM-Pakistan's Afshan Qamber Ali, PPP's Abdul Qadir Patel, PML-N's Salman Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Sardar Abdul Aziz, Pak Sarzameen Party's (PSP) Muhammad Yousuf and MMA's Gul Muhammad Afridi are among 12 candidates who are vying for NA-248.

For PS-112, the MQM-P has fielded Afshan, the PPP Liaquat Ali Askani and the PML-N Saleem Javaid. There are a total 24 candidates vying for the seat, including PSP's Imtiaz Akbar and MMA's Naik Amanullah.

The number of candidates contesting on PS-113 is 18. They include PPP's Humayun Muhammad Khan, MQM-P's Mangla Sharma, PML-N's Mohibullah Khan and MMA's Sajjad Ahmed Khan.

As many as 14 candidates are in the run for PS-114 that is partially included in NA-248. The candidates include PPP's Mir Talib Hussain Brohi, MQM-P's Syed Shahid Mian, PML-N's Saeedullah Khan and MMA's Muhammad Usman.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2018.