Ghutka and niswaar not the only symbols

Piano-key dental displays of stained teeth set apart presiding officers at the MQM and ANP-dominated areas in Orangi.

KARACHI: Piano-key dental displays of stained teeth set apart presiding officers posted at the MQM- and ANP-dominated areas in Orangi where the by-polls were held on Sunday. As one election commission official contentedly chewed ghutka, the other packed his jowl with a wad of burning niswaar.

At Shaheedan-e Watan School in Ghousia Baloch Colony, presiding officer Shahid Saleem insisted that all votes were being polled strictly according to the rules at his station. A party worker moved along long queues of orderly voters. Inside the booth, the activist not only assisted the voters in finding their names on the list available with the ECP officials, but he also helpfully handed them the blue stamp so they could exercise their right of franchise. Each voter then left their mark on their favorite symbol in plain sight even though a corner separated by a curtain was there to provide secrecy.

When voter Shahbaz was asked why he wasn’t using the private corner, he retorted: “I feel no need to hide my choice of vote. I’m a diehard MQM supporter and always will be.”

Meanwhile, it was all quiet on the ANP front.

One of the most sensitive polling stations was Shaheen Secondary School in Farid Colony. Not a single vote was cast at this station. For their part, the ANP activists, including area’s president Umer Nawab, claimed that no one had been stopped from voting. “The people from our area themselves have not turned up at the polling stations in support of the call given by our leader Shahi Syed,” Nawab said. When asked if the people really had a choice to disagree, he said voters would have come out in droves had the ANP’s conditions been met.

Earlier on, ANP activists demonstrated against the by-elections outside this polling station. Many held black flags and shouted anti-MQM slogans.

There were reports that the situation arising out of the demonstration had spiraled out of control in Farid colony, but Rangers Brigadier Waseem Ayub dismissed them as rumors. “The situation remained largely peaceful in Orangi today,” he said.

But ASI Ghous Bakhsh had a different tale to tell. He had been on duty at a polling station for 24 hours without sleep or food and couldn’t wait for his ‘poll misery’ to end. “I’ve been subsiting on cigarettes and chai,” said a visibly beat Bakhsh.

According to him, the job of policing during the by-elections has become a nuisance. “When I stop anyone on the street on suspicion, they first insult me and then say I’m Shahi Syed’s man or Muttahida’s man, how dare you come in my way,” he explained, adding that even though he carried an automatic weapon, he felt powerless.

Bakhsh, who hails from Sukkur and has been on the force for the last 20 years, gives his conclusion: “A policeman like me is like an ant who can get squished at any time by any side.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2010.