KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) are gearing up for the upcoming by-election in PS-94, scheduled for September 22. The seat was left vacant after MQM MPA Raza Haider was killed on August 1.
Saifuddin Khalid, the MQM candidate, is fielded as the replacement for Raza Haider, who was gunned down by six armed men in Nazimabad last month.
“The late Raza Haider had secured 80,000 votes in the previous elections while the ANP was only able to fetch 900 votes,” said the MQM spokesman, Qamar Mansoor. “There is no match as our rival party’s support in the constituency is less than one per cent.”
He said that the press conference by Shahi Syed meant nothing to MQM.
Mansoor also claimed that ANP voters had two identity cards, one from Karachi and the other from their hometowns and nobody bothers to check the double cards, which allow them to vote twice.
“The ANP was welcomed here when they came to work as labourers,” he said, “My question to them is, if they are fine with working as labourers in Dubai then why do they take such a hard stance in Karachi?”
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday at the Mardan House, ANP Sindh chapter president Shahi Syed asked the provincial government to hand over the security of the sensitive polling stations of the constituency to Pakistan Army and Rangers.
“The provincial government should act on the request of the election commission of Pakistan, which has demanded foolproof security.”
He said that government should ensure fair and free voting. “We will not accept the results of rigged elections,” Syed warned, adding that in order to keep the elections fair, the government should ensure that no one is allowed to brandish weapons on the day of the election and that nobody is able to terrorise people.
Five candidates are contesting for PS-94. The MQM has fielded Saifuddin Khalid while the ANP has nominated Riaz Gul. The other three contesters, Abdul Haq, Masood Alam and Zeenat Yasmin, are independent candidates.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2010.
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