KARACHI, 8 August — Amidst an uneasy calm and countless apprehensions, over 10 million inhabitants of Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi are poised to witness the final polling for the elections of the city’s nazim and naib nazim (administrator and deputy) scheduled to be held today.
And in the wake of the continuing ban on political activities, canvassing messages are exchanged through telephone and Internet extensively. A close contest is expected between Al-Khidmat’s Niamatullah Khan and Taj Haider of Jamhoori alliance for city nazim with the latter having a slight edge as the third strongest group of Haji Hanif Tayyab has decided to support him. The highly expected support of yet another veteran politician of the city, Siddique Rathore, and that of Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani would further strengthen Taj Haider’s position. Announcements in this regard are awaited.
Taj Haider is making his best efforts to gain support of most of the smaller groups including nationalist leader Ghulam Sarwar Awan though, Al-Khidmat candidate Niamatullah Khan stays on top since he had obtained over 1,700 votes in the Aug. 2 polls and thus requires only 100 votes to favor him.
On the other hand, Taj Haider had secured 1,136 votes, Hanif Tayyab 512 and Rathore 178 whereas Ghulam Sarwar Awan is expected to have the support of 100 votes. Niamatullah Khan is one of the senior most leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, Karachi’s strongest political group of the past. Being a well-known figure in Karachi, he was elected as Member of National Assembly in 1985’s non-party elections.
Taj Haider is more of an intellectual and playwright than a politician. However, his long association with the Pakistan People’s Party has given him recognition as a politician. He has represented the PPP in the Senate.
Meanwhile, acting President of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has reiterated party’s demand for free, fair and transparent elections in the country. “The people of Pakistan have rejected the military government’s Trojan horses by reposing trust in their representative political parties in the local government elections,” he said in Gujranwala, Punjab.
