On the brink of elections, an outpouring of adoration for Sanam Fakir

People who used to ardently support political parties say they will now vote for her.

SUKKUR:

If there’s one thing that keeps Sanam Fakir firm in her resolve to contest the elections against Sukkur’s political heavyweights is the outpour of support she has received.

“People from all walks of life are supporting me. This has given me the power to contest the elections against the big guns,” said Fakir, a transgender person contesting the elections as an independent candidate for PS-1 in Sukkur. Fakir, whose political symbol is a cot, will be facing Haji Munawar Abbasi of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Saleem Bandhani of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the elections.

“I am not claiming that I will turn Sukkur into Paris,” added Fakir. “But I will work hard to make sure that my tenure is different from that of other politicians.”

Fakir began her campaign last Friday by visiting the shrine of Shaikh Shehan Badshah and placing a wreath on his tomb. “I went to the shrine to pray for success in the elections,” she said, adding that she also distributed food among the poor people who had gathered there. “Many people who do not want their names to be published are supporting my campaign by arranging meetings and paying the printers for my posters.”

Muhammad Siddiq, a vegetable vendor, felt that Fakir was a new and welcome face in the electoral arena. “She will not change after coming into power like the other politicians,” he claimed, adding that other politicians worried more about bringing their families into power than addressing the needs of the poor. “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto brought Benazir Bhutto into politics and she then brought her husband Asif Zardari into the arena,” he recalled. “My grandfather and father died as vegetable vendors,” he added, while speaking about the stagnation in people’s standards of living over the past few decades. “I am afraid I will die as a vegetable vendor too. My whole family will vote for Fakir.”



Milkman Muhammad Paryal, another supporter of Fakir, said that he would vote for her because she came from a poor family and understood the needs of the poor. “I have voted for a number of parties, including PPP and MQM, since 1985 but they did nothing for the poor after coming into power,” he said. “I have always seen Fakir helping the poor and the other transgender people.”

“What’s the use of voting in Pakistan?” asked fruit seller Ashfaq angrily. “In other countries, things change when people vote. Nothing changes here.”

He felt that the same set of people who contest elections every time are doing so this year excluding a few newcomers, like Fakir and a singer-turned-politician, Shaman Ali Mirani, who is contesting elections for NA-199. “Vote for candidates like Fakir and Mirani if you want to bring change,” he advised.

Abdul Aziz, a cloth merchant, said that he had stopped voting because he had become disheartened by the failure of parties to deliver on their promises. “But Fakir is one of us and we will definitely vote for her in the elections.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2013.