MQM, JI battle it out for votes in NA-252

Constituency likely to witness a close contest between former winners, MQM and JI.

KARACHI:

The constituency of NA-252 is ready for a face off between two mainstream parties in Karachi -the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Jamaat-e-Islami. But while the latter has been able to carry out a large-scale campaign, the former has kept it mostly under wraps due to security threats.

Home to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum at MA Jinnah Road, this constituency was claimed by JI’s Muhammad Hussain Mehanti in 2002 while in 2008 - the year that JI boycotted the elections - victory belonged to MQM’s Abdul Rashid Godil.

This year, however, Mehanti - the JI Karachi chief - is back as a formidable joint candidate of the 10-party alliance, which also recently managed to garner the support of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-F through seat adjustments.

JI has the upper hand when it comes to campaigning in the constituency with Mehnati arranging door-to-door contacts, corner meetings and visits to commercial areas on daily basis. The party’s main rally was held last Sunday near Quaid’s Mausoleum at Bagh-e-Jinnah with thousands of supporters turning up to give a glimpse of the party’s strength in NA-252.



Mehanti, while citing the deteriorating social and economic security during last five years, said that the chances of JI winning the elections were strong if the party’s incessant demand for deployment of army inside the polling stations was met. “People have witnessed the peace, progress and development in Karachi during our short term of office in local bodies,” he said. “MQM cannot win the election without extensive rigging. The presence of army personnel, however, will foil all such attempts to rig the polls.”

Winners of 2008

MQM’s Abdul Rashid Godil will fight to retain his feat in the 2008 elections in which he secured 87,280 votes. But except for holding small corner meetings and putting up billboards and party flags in the constituency, Godil said that election campaign has been passive after the series of blasts near its election offices and camps in the city.

Godil believes that the JI’s victory in 2002 came on the heels of the performance and development works carried out by Niamatullah Khan, the former city nazim. “Karachi’ites give votes to those who work for them, not those who merely raise slogans,” he said. “MQM was reorganising itself then [in 2002] but this time around, only MQM has the unmatched trail of services and development works to its credit while JI is nowhere in the present scenario.”

New parties on the block

The emergence of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) on the political spectrum might give the traditional winners a tough time claiming their victory since the constituency also comprises Shia-dominated localities. The MWM candidate Muhammad Hussain Karimi expects to bag sizeable number of votes from the areas of Soldier Bazaar, Garden East, and PIB Colony as well areas across Martin and Kashmir roads. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Syed Ali Haider Zaidi will contest from NA-252 while Ahsan Jabbar is contesting for PS-117. In Jabbar’s opinion, MQM’s claims of mandate are merely a facade.



“Victory would have been PTI’s in NA-252 if they had made an alliance with JI as people are desperate for change,” said Mohammad Muneeb, who owns a shop in Dhoraji, a Memon-dominated area.

Jabbar, too, agreed with the promising prospects in case of a JI-PTI alliance but said that the party did not want to join any group which was in the last government.

The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat has also nominated Syed Bahroon Shah for the constituency from the platform of the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz

The places, the people

NA-252 represents a blend of affluent, middle, lower-middle and working class people. Most of the residents are professionals or businessmen, including Memon and Bohri communities along with Punjabi Sodagran of Delhi.

Around 5,000 families of retired public servants live in government residential colonies at Martin Road, Jehangir Road, Clyton Road, Jamshed Road and Pakistan Quarters. These areas are considered strongholds of the MQM but their condition over the years has become deplorable, especially due to broken roads, water shortage and sanitation problems. Martin Roads leads to the city’s central prison which has more than 4,000 prisoners.

The constituency boasts of having one of the most famous shopping hubs of the country, Tariq Road, and the oldest zoo in Sindh, the Karachi Zoological Garden, which is located on Nishter Road.

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s headquarters, Civic Centre, which also houses a number of other public offices, falls on the eastern boundary of NA-252.

Two of Karachi’s busiest hospitals, Aga Khan University Hospital and Liaquat National Hospital, are located side by side at the Stadium Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2013.