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The chief election commissioner has dismissed the Muttahida Qaumi Movements concerns against delimitation and pressed ahead on Thursday with the exercise which will change the face of Karachi and the nature of future elections.
After an intense meeting with 13 of 16 invited political parties, the Election Commission gave them a week to submit proposals and draft maps as it begins to redraw the citys constituency boundaries.
The wheels for this landmark change started turning in October 2011 when the Supreme Court ordered fresh delimitation while hearing a suo motu case prompted by an exceptionally bloody summer. The court was told that Karachis constituencies, which are 130 in number, suffered from the stranglehold of ethnically divisive groups. Redrawing the boundaries would help rein in ethnic strife and discourage no-go areas.
The Awami National Party, which has been at the forefront in the demand for fresh delimitation, was mysteriously absent from this crucial meeting.
Sources privy to the proceedings said MQMs Dr Farooq Sattar opened the discussion by questioning the legality of the exercise. Delimitation cannot be carried out without first holding a census, he was quoted as saying. The last census was in 1998 but Karachis population has burgeoned since then from nine million to an estimated 20 million. Delimitation takes place after every census but since none have been held, the 2002 and 2008 elections took place based on the 1998 numbers. In 2002 General Musharraf ordered the fresh delimitation of Karachi and its number of seats in the Sindh Assembly went up from 27 to 42.
Without a fresh census now, argued Sattar, this exercise was tantamount to pre-poll rigging and he asked why it was limited to Karachi. Those who are bent on enforcing it should not forget the consequences, he was quoted as saying in a threatening tone. We should not forget the [birth of Bangladesh] a confrontation between ethnicities was behind the move for delimitation in Karachi.
There was a harsh exchange when Sattar castigated ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan for appearing on a TV show and declaring that the commission would go ahead. Sattar said he was at a loss to understand why the ECP was so scared and did not file a review petition against the Supreme Courts order. The chapter of delimitation stands closed, he remarked.
When the MQM leader was informed that Section 10-A of The Delimitation Act empowered the ECP to alter, modify and amend the limits of any constituency, he replied that this part was introduced by a dictator in 1984. The section should not be read in isolation, he said, adding that the act should be seen in its entirety.
Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim then proposed that the political representatives wishing to endorse Dr Sattars views should speak first.
This was met with silence.
The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party played it tactful. Its representative Taj Haider supported the MQMs stance that delimitation should be undertaken throughout the country but in the same breath he endorsed that the view of the majority should also be respected an indirect agreement to the plan.
Many of the politicians, including Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of the PML-N, berated the MQM for going against the plan and asked what was the problem with voters in their strongholds being moved from one constituency to another.
Mehmood Khan Achakzai of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party argued that the entire country should not be put at stake to strengthen one particular force. Taking up arms was no solution to problems, he said, referring to violence in Karachi. Squarely placing his partys support for the plan, he stressed that all institutions, including the SC, ECP and parliament, should be respected.
Justice Ebrahim asked the representatives to give their comments in writing, specifying how the existing boundaries should be modified. In an attempt to make the process credible and free from local interference, the commission has assigned the Punjab election commissioner, Mehboob Anwar, the task of supervising delimitation and the re-verification of voters in Karachi as ordered by the Supreme Court. He is standing in for Sindhs election commissioner, Sonu Khan Baloch, who was removed a few days ago over allegations of being biased.
Another move to benefit Punjab by the CJ. Karachi will now be at the mercy of a thug from Punjab. We hope that this is changed.
Clear racism by the ECP. Karachi must throw all now Karachiites OUT!
