|
|
#1
07-04-2016, 03:21 AM
|
|||
|
|||
Race for two AJK seats reserved for Kashmiris in Sindh heating up
again as other parties demand steps to prevent rigging Karachi With all major political parties kicking off their preparations for the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly election scheduled on July 21, their Karachi chapters have also become active to win the two seats reserved for Kashmiris living in Sindh. There are two AJKLA seats - LA-30 and the LA-36 - reserved for the Kashmiri Diaspora living in Sindh and some parts of other provinces. However, because most voters of the two constituencies live in Karachi, political parties mainly focus on the city. The parties who have pitched their candidates for the two constituencies include the Pakistan People’s Party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Besides, there are also several independent candidates. In connection with the election preparations, PPP’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hosted an Iftar dinner on June 30 for the Kashmiri community residing in Karachi. Similarly, former AJK prime minister and PTI AJK head Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudary recently visited Karachi and attended the PTI candidates’ electoral campaigns. The JI has an**unced that it would support the PML-N for the two sets while the PTI has succeeded in mustering support from the Muslim Conference. An official of the Election Commission of Pakistan said after receiving many complaints from the political parties, several fake votes had been ******* from the voter lists of both constituencies after verification. LA-30: The LA-30 (Jammu- I) is a constituency reserved for Kashmiris belonging to the AJK and it comprises the entire Sindh province and five divisions of the Punjab province. In the last polls held in July 2011, MQM candidate Tahir Khokhar had won the LA-30 by bagging 30,620 votes, defeating PML-N candidate Abdul Rasheed Mirza, who had secured 18,301 votes. However, this time the MQM has given its ticket to Muhammad Mansha, a senior party member. The PML-N has chosen Nasir Dar, a candidate from Lahore, instead of Karachi. Dar’s sister Kiran Dar is a PML-N MNA elected on reserved seat for women. Chaudary Mir Haider, the Sindh zone president of the PPP AJK, is contesting for the constituency on the PPP’s ticket while prominent Kashmiri figure Sardar Maqsood Zaman is the PTI’s candidate for the LA-30. LA-36: The LA-36 (Kashmir Valley –I) is a constituency reserved for Kashmiris from Indian-administrated Kashmir who migrated in the 1940s and 1950s. After removing fake votes, there are 4,300 voters in the constituency **w, including over 3,700 in Karachi alone and the rest in the rural districts of Sindh and Quetta. MQM candidate Saleem Butt had won the seat last time. But party has introduced a new face for the seat **w, Abdul Rehman Gassi, a member of the Muttahida Organising Committee and former member of the party’s Kashmir Committee. The PML-N has fielded Muhammad Naeem Khan, the Sindh zone president of the PML-N AJK. Sardar Aamir Ghaffar Lone, who had contested for the seat in the past as an independent candidate, is contesting on the PPP’s ticket this time. The PTI has fielded Syed Rizwan Javed Shah, who has served as the party’s Sindh’s vice president. His uncle, Sardar Akhlaq, and grandfather, Abdul Majeed Shah, had also run for the constituency in the past. Electoral politics The MQM is confident that it will retain the two seats for the third time because of its performance. “The MQM had tried its best to address the issues of the Kashmiri community living in Karachi and Hyderabad and that’s the reason that they would vote for the party again,” MQM spokesperson Aminul Haque told The News. He said the Kashmiri community has been living in the city for several decades and because of the MQM’s popularity in the city, Kashmiris in large numbers had joined the party in recent years. However, analysts monitoring the Kashmiri politics in Karachi believe that the situation of current election is different from the polls held in 2011. “The MQM had blackmailed the PPP in 2011 because of the former’s crucial votes in the National Assembly and therefore the state machinery did **t act to stop the rigging that took place in the last polls,” said Qazi Amjad, who heads a Kashmiri community organisation in Landhi. Rival parties too alleged that the previous polls held for the two seats were rigged. Khan, the PML-N candidate for the LA-36, said his party had won a significant number of votes in Karachi’s local government polls held in December. “The PML-N can win the two seats easily and to ensure transparency and prevent rigging, the party has requested the election commission to deploy army and Rangers,” he told The News. Qazi Muhammad Bashir, former president of the Sindh PPP AJK, said Bilawal had personally taken interest in the AJKLA polls and at the Iftar dinner on June 30, he had listened to the issues of Kashmiri community living in the city. “The PPP had always tried to resolve the problems of the Kashmiri community in the city and therefore we are confident that the party will easily win the two seats if free and fair elections are held”, Bashir told The News. Sarfaraz Ali, a PTI AKJ leader in Sindh, an**unced joining the PPP on Sunday at a press conference at the People’s Media Cell in the presence of Saeed Ghani, the party’s parliamentary leader in Senate. Kashmiri community in Karachi Although there are ** official statistics about the number of Kashmiris living in Karachi, an ECP official, who was involved in the last AJK polls, said Nadra statistics showed that there were 1.5 million of them living in the city. The Kashmiri community is scattered throughout the city, mostly in Landhi Industrial Area, Shershah, Manzoor Colony, Kashmir Colony, Neelam Colony, Cantonment Station, Lyari, Korangi Crossing, Orangi Town, Sultanabad, Baldia Town and Nursery. In many of these areas, there are ‘Kashmiri Mohallas’ (small localities) where they live together. Community leaders said a large number of Kashmiris had moved back to the AJK or Rawalpindi and Lahore in the last five to seven years because of the violence in the city. Many Kashmiri Mohallas in the city have been vacated in recent years. All major political parties and Kashmiri nationalist parties have their organisational set-ups in the city and regularly arrange various activities in these areas including celebrating the Kashmir Day and observing the anniversaries of Maqbool Butt and other Kashmiri leaders. أكثر... ??????? ??????: Race for two AJK seats reserved for Kashmiris in Sindh heating up || ??????: ahlam1399 || ??????: اسم منتداك
|
 |
|
|
العرض العادي
