One-on-one with Atiqa Odho

Atiqa Odho admits she never voted before.

Atiqa Odho admits she has never voted before. “I am voting for the first time. We used to take this day as a holiday but, this time, things have changed.”

The Express Tribune had the pleasure of accompanying the actor and entrepreneur on May 11 - from the last-minute preparations at her house to the drive to the polling station. “When people ask why should we pay taxes? It’s the same answer: I have done my bit.”

Dressed in black shalwar kameez, in a playful and joyful mood, Odho says celebrities have taken in to vote. “Why not? We are as much of a society, like anyone else.” She felt all celebrities should be politically active. “Musarrat Shaheen is running for a seat and why shouldn’t she?”

Odho is accompanying her husband, Samar Ali Khan, who seems as excited as she is. “We can’t completely rule out the possibility of trouble or violence in sensitive localities because there is a history of it,” he chipped in. “Motivating the Defence crowd is a task unto itself!” he chuckled.

Noticing how people were carrying different flags, Odho hoped the nation unites under one. “If we become one then nobody can force us to bow down. Terrorists are there, but in a minority, they are not in a majority!” As she joined the queue outside her polling station, she hoped that, “It is a line of change. We have stood in several lines in the country and this one, I hope, will make all the difference.”

She pointed to a child holding her father’s hand. “Look, we kids, years ago were told to stay away from it all, but this child will grow up to remember it and would always remember the power to vote.” She kept her children away from ballot box too. “Not this time. Not any more. This time everyone is voting.”

After her first experience voting, Odho was all smiles. The system is so easy that even someone who can’t read and write can cast their vote, she said. Later on, she paid a visit to the polling station in Neelam Colony and was disappointed to learn that people had been waiting in queues for several hours and yet the polling staff had not arrived.

As Odho encouraged the voters to stay hopeful, her husband was confident that the next week will be a good one for the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.