Day 7 of dharnas: Stare down between PTI, MQM supporters

Karachi continues to dance to the beat of the parties’ calls for protests.

KARACHI:

While Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) dharna on Saturday condemning rigging was relatively uneventful, the one organised by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) became a bit dramatic when Muttahia Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) protesters decided to hold a gathering just a stone’s throw away.  

Hundreds of JI supporters thronged the office of the provincial election commission on Saturday, the seventh consecutive day of protests. People of all ages began arriving in the evening, holding party flags and banners with demands for re-elections across Karachi written on them. “My vote was for change but they changed my vote,” remarked Ali Hussain, one of the protesters. Contingents of police and Rangers were deployed at the election commission’s office.

“Peace and democracy in Karachi and Hyderabad are dependent on free and fair re-elections in the presence of army personnel in each and every polling station,” said JI’s Sindh chief, Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui. “The army and establishment are playing with fire by sustaining the fake mandate of MQM on the pretext of elections,” he added. “For the past 25 years, they have used the MQM to blackmail every other government while MQM, in return, has ruined the economy and introduced the culture of violence and terrorism in politics.”

He said that the JI was inviting political parties, including PTI, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan, Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen and Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, to join hands on a one-point agenda of peace and re-elections in Karachi.

Close encounters

PTI supporters also continued their protests against the rigging in the May 11 elections. Leaders and supporters of the party gathered at Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad and held a sit-in, demanding re-elections across Karachi.

The protesters carried PTI flags and shouted slogans condemning the election commission for not conducting free and fair elections in the city. They also criticised MQM for allegedly hijacking polling stations in the city and putting in bogus votes for their candidates into ballot boxes.

The protest resulted in a massive traffic jam in the nearby areas, including Landi Kotal Chowrangi, Sakhi Hassan Chowrangi, Ayesha Manzil and Water Pump Chowrangi. Hundreds of people were stranded in their vehicles because of the sit-in.

Things got slightly tense when supporters of MQM also arrived at the Five Star Chowrangi and shouted slogans against the party. PTI’s protesters responded with their own slogans for re-elections. PTI leader Firdous Naqvi thanked MQM’s leadership for ending their protest to avoid conflict with PTI’s protesters.

“It’s been seven days since we were holding protests and sit-in’s in different parts of the city without breaching peace,” said Arsalan Taj Ghumman, PTI’s candidate for PS-118, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. “Some extremists tried to confront our protesters but we have followed our policy of peace.” Ghumman told The Express Tribune that their demand was crystal clear. “We want re-elections in the entire city because they were rigged throughout,” he said. “We are protesting against the election commission’s failure to conduct free and fair elections.” He added that their teams were ready for re-elections in NA-250 and they hoped for good results. “We are satisfied with the army being deployed in NA-250. If they were deployed in the entire city on May 11 as we demanded, the elections would not have been rigged.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.