February 17, 2008	Sunday	Safar 09, 1429

FAISALABAD, Feb 16: Najma Bibi cursed the rulers and political parties as she was jostled out of the queue outside a utility store of Gulistan Colony for trying to break a long row on Saturday. She didn’t yearn for her voice to be heard in a polling station, but wanted to buy her family the bare necessities of life, “daal roti”.

She burst into tears and cried: “My advice to my children, relatives and neighbours is not to be part of general election on Feb 18.” She knew “election would not change the fate of the downtrodden. People like me would continue to be pushed and jostled outside the utility stores for foodstuff.”

Holding a suckling, she said she would not cast her vote because they (politicians) were the ones responsible for scarcity of food items.

Many other men and women in the queue poured out similar resentment, saying the politicians were knocking at their door in quest of votes. But we are in need of eatables.

Naziran Bibi, in her seventies, said politicians had nothing to do with the miseries of the poor. “Why should we go to cast votes in favour of such people who are indifferent?” she asks.

Many women exchanged harsh words with a stick-wielding guard of the utility store upon rough treatment being meted out to them. The guard in plainclothes jostled many women out of the queue and abused them in the presence of utility store officials and hundreds of people.

Nusrat, 40, said life for her was a hell as her husband passed away a couple of years ago and she was the sole breadwinner of her three children. “My husband is in grave, my weeping kids wait for me at home to eat something.

How can I talk about elections or political parties. They are not important for me. I want food and basic necessities for my children,” she sobbed out.