The alternative: Only the Karachiwala should have voting rights, activists claim
PILER and I Am Karachi's give a recap of last month's conference
PILER and I Am Karachi's gave a recap of last month's conference. PHOTO: APP/FILE
KARACHI:
Social activists, student organisations and others demanded that in Karachi, the right to vote should be exclusive for the citizens of Karachi.
Their demands echoed through Karachi Press Club as they discussed voting rights as a part of the agenda for a two-day conference titled 'Exploring Peace and Reconciliation Alternative: Towards a Karachi for All' that was held in December 2014. The conference was organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) along with the I Am Karachi campaign.
Zeenia Shaukat, who is the co-manager of the programme, explained what was discussed during the conference. She went through the main points of the agenda, which included trying to make the government understand the demographics that were changing Karachi.
"There is a large number of people migrating to Karachi from different areas of the country and this is becoming a serious problem," she said. "The migrants get voting rights immediately in the city and this can cause grave political unrest." She added that policy makers should differentiate between an individual's right to work and vote.
Shaukat claimed that an individual should spend at least 15 years in the city before being granted voting rights in Karachi.
The city's ethnic politics and violence were also part of the agenda of the conference. After Partition, Karachi was a Sindhi-majority area but soon had a large Urdu-speaking population and these days, it claimed, the city had a large Pakhtun majority.
The agenda also highlighted one of the reasons behind Karachi's changing demographics. "The Pakhtun population is dealing with militancy in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Baloch are going through political unrest in their province," it read. "These people end up coming to Karachi as it gives them some solace.
Another demand on the agenda was to ask for the local government system. They also brought up the topic of law enforcement agencies and the worsening law and order situation in the city. She claimed that the police force was politicised as was their infrastructure and day-to-day affairs. "If the police take part in polio campaigns or are busy conducting Matriculation and Intermediate examinations, then who will deal with the criminals?" asked Shaukat
Other issues discussed included womens' rights and safety, state of the pre-Partition buildings in Saddar and cinemas.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
Social activists, student organisations and others demanded that in Karachi, the right to vote should be exclusive for the citizens of Karachi.
Their demands echoed through Karachi Press Club as they discussed voting rights as a part of the agenda for a two-day conference titled 'Exploring Peace and Reconciliation Alternative: Towards a Karachi for All' that was held in December 2014. The conference was organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) along with the I Am Karachi campaign.
Zeenia Shaukat, who is the co-manager of the programme, explained what was discussed during the conference. She went through the main points of the agenda, which included trying to make the government understand the demographics that were changing Karachi.
"There is a large number of people migrating to Karachi from different areas of the country and this is becoming a serious problem," she said. "The migrants get voting rights immediately in the city and this can cause grave political unrest." She added that policy makers should differentiate between an individual's right to work and vote.
Shaukat claimed that an individual should spend at least 15 years in the city before being granted voting rights in Karachi.
The city's ethnic politics and violence were also part of the agenda of the conference. After Partition, Karachi was a Sindhi-majority area but soon had a large Urdu-speaking population and these days, it claimed, the city had a large Pakhtun majority.
The agenda also highlighted one of the reasons behind Karachi's changing demographics. "The Pakhtun population is dealing with militancy in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Baloch are going through political unrest in their province," it read. "These people end up coming to Karachi as it gives them some solace.
Another demand on the agenda was to ask for the local government system. They also brought up the topic of law enforcement agencies and the worsening law and order situation in the city. She claimed that the police force was politicised as was their infrastructure and day-to-day affairs. "If the police take part in polio campaigns or are busy conducting Matriculation and Intermediate examinations, then who will deal with the criminals?" asked Shaukat
Other issues discussed included womens' rights and safety, state of the pre-Partition buildings in Saddar and cinemas.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.