The battle for NA-49: Race to the finish line: contestants make last-ditch efforts

Leading candidates in the running for NA-49 are making their final pledges for change to voters.

ISLAMABAD:

With just about 24 hours to go before general elections, leading candidates in the running for Islamabad’s NA-49 are making their final pledges for change to voters.

Former MNA and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry reaffirmed his commitment to changing the fate of rural Islamabad. “I will establish a university in Bhara Kahu and improve the area’s overall education system, which is currently lagging far behind that of the capital’s urban region,” he said.

There is only one girls’ college in Bhara Kahu, in Kot Hathyal, which hosts 1,500 students and is heavily overburdened.

Moreover, boys from rural villages prefer to get admission in urban areas where college education is more disciplined and of a higher standard.

Chaudhry admitted he found it difficult to work independently during the tenure of the outgoing Pakistan Peoples Party government.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ilyas Meherban vowed to improve the image of NA-49 by creating a positive identity for the constituency. “Urban Islamabad possesses state-of-the-art facilities with quality health and education centres, in contrast to rural areas which continue to suffer,” he said.

Meherban said the lack of a local government system in the rural areas was at the heart of the problem. “If elected, I will introduce a comprehensive governance system that will be implemented in full force,” he said.

Meherban said he disapproved of discretionary funds for MNA’s and called on the state to stop the provision of these ‘packages.’

On education, the PTI contestant vowed to double the number of girls’ schools, as dictated in the party manifesto’s education policy. He said he would abolish federal government colleges, model colleges and the elite school system in favour of an equal education system. “The Federal Directorate of Education must also be held accountable for the education woes,” he said.

Speaking about the lack of basic water and gas facilities in the rural areas, Meherban vowed to improve the provision of basic water and gas facilities in the rural areas but couldn’t find answers when pressed on how he would do so.

“Water from Simly Dam is funneled through our pipelines to the urban areas for usage. Despite this, our people have no access to this water,” said Pind Begwal resident Khadim Hussain.

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Zubair Farooq Khan, who also has high hopes of winning in NA-49, lashed out at land grabbers, who he said had hindered many development projects in the constituency.

“Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Giani announced that he would be building a hospital in Bhara Kahu in 2010 but nothing materialised because of the presence of land grabbers,” he said.

The Capital Development Authority could not face up to land grabbers due to their powers of influence, he added.

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