KARACHI, Feb 13: In the former Karachi district south, Lyari (NA-248) is not only amongst the oldest but also the most multi-ethnic and multi-cultural of the city’s settlements. As such, it perhaps best encapsulates the ability of the Pakistan People’s Party to build bridges across various divides since it is the only seat the party has consistently retained in every successive election.
Notwithstanding the dents — but not defeats — suffered by the PPP during the last two elections, in terms of the upcoming Feb 18 polls political analysts are of the view that the party will witness a resounding victory in this area that was formerly NA-189. Indicating the wave of sympathy that has followed the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, the analysts point out that recent events have revamped the party’s image and the PPP ought to therefore be able to muster up the support of many more voters.
The only caveat in this seemingly perfect scenario, say commentators, is whether the local leadership is able to make use of the sympathy and translate it into a mass voter turnout.
On its part, the PPP appears to be doing the best it can under the circumstances. While the campaigning is as yet slow and lacks its traditional zeal – the 40-day mourning period for Ms Bhutto ended just days ago – it is clearly picking up its pace. The poll campaign was launched with the setting up of election offices along the roads in the area. The streets are bedecked with campaign banners and huge portraits of the party’s murdered leader. As dusk falls and traffic noise begins to die down, Lyari echoes with Benazir’s speeches and messages played out from the election offices.
However, the PPP’s claim to what it refers to as its stronghold is being contested in the upcoming elections by Wasiullah Lakho of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (the adjacent NA-249 has remained an MQM stronghold) and Ibrahim Rees of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.
The situation is further complicated by the presence in the running of dissident PPP party workers. These intra-party differences surfaced when dissident party workers, led by former MNA Waja Karimdad, openly opposed the nomination of former deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Sardar Nabeel Ahmed Gabol, for NA-248 and the nominations of two former provincial legislators, Rafiq Engineer and Dr Salim Hingora, for PS-108 and PS-109 respectively. The dissident group has fielded Shakoor Shad, a former president of the Sindh People’s Youth, against Nabeel Gabol while Haroon Rashid, a brother of the former Lyari nazim Abdul Khaliq Juma, is facing Rafiq Engineer.
Multi-ethnic area
NA-248 mainly encompasses the 11 union council areas of Lyari town: Agra Taj Colony, Daryabad, Nawabad, Khadda Memon Society, Baghdadi, Shah Beg Lane, Bihar Colony, Rangiwara, Singoo Lane, Chakiwara and Allama Iqbal Colony.
With a population of 607,992 residents, Lyari Town is the oldest of the city’s settlements and was once characterised as a ‘labour colony’ dominated by workers employed in the port, railways and factories. After Partition, and particularly in the past two decades, however, the number of small businessmen, factory owners, shop owners, professionals and government employees has gradually increased. Today, Lyari has a small, emerging middle class given a boost by the expansion in trade and commercial activities.
The area’s population includes various linguistic, cultural and ethnic communities such as the Baloch, Sindhis, Lasis, Katchis and Memons, who are the old residents. In addition, there are Punjabis, Pathans, Niazis and Hazarawalas who settled in the locality in the late 60s. There is also a smaller number of Mohajirs who migrated from India after the creation of Pakistan.
The PPP’s traditional seat
Until the late 60s, the politics of the locality were dominated by the Pakistan Muslim League, sundry religious parties and Baloch nationalists who were influenced by the Baloch national movement in that province. The popular upsurge of the 1970s, however, changed the area’s electoral politics when the PPP, headed by the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, emerged as a formidable political force by securing all the seats in the constituency in a sweeping victory. Since then, the PPP has retained NA-248 in every successive election.
In the elections of 1988, the then PPP co-chairperson Benazir Bhutto won 62,046 votes from here while her closest rival – the IJI’s Jamshed Ahmed Khan – got merely 10,731. The MQM’s Rafiq Essani (6,598 votes) and the nationalist PNP’s Haji Yunis Baloch (5,360 votes) were the other candidates who tried to swim against the tide on that historic occasion. Back then, the total number of votes registered from the area was 198,604 while the percentage of total votes cast was 46.06 per cent.
The situation was similar in the 1990 elections when Ms Bhutto’s spouse, Asif Ali Zardari, ran as the PDA candidate from Lyari. He won by a substantial margin by picking up 54,308 votes against the 12,615 of the runner-up, the IJI’s Mohammed Yousaf Baloch, while the MQM’s M. Liaquat received a token 2,125 votes. At least 200,335 votes were registered for the area at the time and the percentage of actual votes cast was 36.44 per cent.
In the 1997 elections, which saw the PML-N win by a majority, the PPP’s Waja Ahmed Karimdad nevertheless took
NA-248 but by the close margin of just 300 votes more than the PML-N candidate, Mama Younis Baloch.
Given the absence of nationalist forces that are boycotting Monday’s polls, and the stance taken by the PML-N, the PPP appears to have a clear edge and seems set to enjoy the support of its traditional vote bank and retain its ‘safe seat’.
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