Preparing for polls

The PS-94 by-election has inspired fear among many residents of Orangi Town.

KARACHI: Riots, not competition, is what seems to be the main concern for most people living in Orangi Town and its surrounding areas when they are asked to comment on the upcoming PS-94 by-election. Many people fear that the proceedings on October 17 may be followed by riots between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP), as both parties have strongholds in the town.

“We don’t see any security measures. We will neither go outside nor cast votes. We are gripped by fear and anything can happen anytime,” Junaid Ahmed, a resident of Iqbal Market, told The Express Tribune.

A resident of Madina Colony said that the people in his neighbourhood had been intimidated into promising both parties that they will vote for them.

“How can we confront them? We have to live here. This one week [has made us] feel unsafe because of the tension in our area,” he said.

While the police confidently claimed that it can cope with any untoward incident, the ANP leadership said that it was not wholly satisfied with the security plan and would prefer to boycott the election if the army was not given control of the polling stations.

If the by-elections are going to be contested under army supervision, then the government should give full charge to the Rangers to ensure peace and fair elections, ANP Sindh spokesman Qadir Khan told The Express Tribune.

Khan claimed that 64 polling stations out of the total of 86 are sensitive for ANP voters, while the remaining 22 polling stations are sensitive for MQM voters.

Khan said ANP will hold a meeting on Saturday and will then decide whether they are contesting or boycotting the election.

The army has never controlled any polling station, said Assistant Election Commissioner Syed Nadeed Hyder, who has also been appointed the returning officer. He added that if and when asked to provide additional security, the duty of the army is to patrol the area.

When asked about the security arrangements, Hyder said “All polling stations are sensitive for us. But according to the revised security plan, the police have tagged four polling stations (No. 36 to No. 39) as sensitive.”

However, CCPO Karachi Fayyaz Leghari said that 22 polling stations are “highly sensitive”. According to the security plan, 3,000 police personnel will be deployed at polling stations, he informed the chief election commissioner, adding that 16 policemen and one officer will be posted at each station, along with Rangers personnel.

While the policemen will be stationed inside the polling stations, the Rangers will be deployed outside. Should tension surface at any station, the officer will be authorized to call the Rangers inside.

Arrangements for the upcoming elections

Meanwhile, arrangements have also been finalised by the election commission, while candidates have been directed to end their election campaigns by midnight on Friday, said Hyder.

Any candidate who violates the code of conduct by continuing to campaign after midnight will be disqualified from the election, Hyder added.

“We will hand over all election-related matters to the presiding officer at 3 pm on Saturday,” he said.

There are 244,000 residents in Orangi, out of whom 133,150 (80,019 men and 53,131 women) are registered to vote, said Hyder.

Talking about arrangements, the returning officer said that 86 presiding officers, 287 assistant presiding officers and around the same number of polling officers will be deputed at 86 polling stations.

MQM’s Qamar Mansoor said that the constituency belonged to his party as 90 per cent of the residents are Urdu-speaking. However, according to ANP’s candidate, Riaz Gul, the party is fairly confident of a win this year as has the support of the People’s Aman Committee, JUI, PML (N) and Punjabi Pakhtoon Ittehad (PPI).

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SOHAIL KHATTAK

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2010.