Karachi. Political Diary.

 Karachi. Political Diary. 

Mubasher Mir

Pirapagara held a protest rally for the first time in his political career, addressed a large crowd and spoke openly about the rigging of the election and also hinted that the country was going to get out of crisis. Pakistan Army can play a better role.

The central leaders of GDA also spoke and the huge turnout of their supporting voters is a sign that they have a good size vote bank. Although he has also hinted to protest in front of the Sindh Assembly, it remains to be seen how he will protest on the occasion of the first session of the Sindh Assembly and what will be its impact.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari responded by addressing a large rally in Thatta as an expression of gratitude and challenging Pir Pagara to contest the by-election. He also targeted Maulana Fazlur Rahman and asked him to contest in the election. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was simultaneously announcing his alliance with the PML-N while also criticizing him for his proposals, which he said included offers to make him prime minister for two years. Bilawal Bhutto had announced in his election campaign that he would form the government by combining independent candidates, but not many people were able to bring together the members of the assembly who won as independents of PTI. It does not yet appear easy that PTI's winning independent members will defect to another party in large numbers. The reason for this seems to be the pressure of PTI workers and their strong commitment to the party is also important. In order to control social media, the caretaker government had previously disrupted the internet, now the ex-Twitter, X, has been significantly disrupted. It appears that the caretaker government plans to shut down other social media sites as well.

A lot of voices are being raised against this decision at the global level. Domestic media and other social organizations are not calling it a good decision. IT experts are running it through VPN. Thus, it is not easy to break contact with the world. Caretaker government should not take such undesirable decisions.

Form 45 and 47 are echoing across the country. The winning contenders of PTI and their central leadership are still demanding the results as per Form 45.

Sindh President Halim Adil Sheikh has also been released after 171 days of imprisonment. He has also made allegations of rigging in detail in his press conference. According to him, his party had won 22 seats in the National Assembly and 40 seats in the Provincial Assembly. Similarly, the election results of Sindh province were also not recognized by GDA, PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami and MQM Haghiqi. In this sense, the stance of many parties against rigging seems to be common. Although they have not adopted a common path of protest, all are trying to show their strength separately, which is probably why the Election Commission is less worried.

No common platform has yet come into being at the country level. Although Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mehmood Khan Achakzai have expressed support for PTI's central leader and former chairman Imran Khan.

MQM leader Mustafa Kamal is also criticizing PTI leader Imran Khan and considers him the cause of all problems. MQM has indicated to join the new government alliance.

The name for the new chief minister of Sindh province is yet to be finalized, everyone is suggesting the name of the chief minister by guesswork. It is also possible that some other name will come out apart from the names mentioned. But former chief minister Murad Ali Shah and former minister Nasir Hussain Shah are being declared as favourites. The figures of Khairpur and Dadu have been prominent during the PPP era. After Qaim Ali Shah in the present era, Murad Ali Shah's affiliation has become more established.

Elections were held on February 8, but so far the news about the country's economic situation is very negative due to the delay in government formation. Inflation has increased further, after the election, the caretaker government increased the price of petrol, increased the prices of diesel, which started to increase the prices of food items. Electricity and gas prices have also been increased. It is as if the caretaker government has imposed the burden of energy prices on the people in an effort to make it easier for the incoming government. In such a case, it should have waited for the new government to determine the energy prices, but it was not done.

PML-N, PPP and MQM are silent on this increase because if their government is formed, they will not have to face this difficult decision in the beginning. After the rise in inflation, people are surprised that voting for the continuation of democracy is still hurting them.

Muslim League-N and People's Party have announced the formation of the government in a joint press conference.

Karachi Political Diary

 Karachi Political Diary

Mubasher Mir

After the general elections, the procedure and status of Form 45 and Form 47 are being debated in political circles.

Independent candidates supported by Tehreek-e-Insaaf staged a protest outside the Karachi Press Club on the unexpected victory of MQM and announced to challenge the election results in court. In this context, the success of Mustafa Kamal, Khawaja Izharul Hasan, Dr. Farooq Sattar, Hafeezuddin Sheikh Advocate has been challenged while the success of PPP's Qadir Patel has also been challenged. Jamaat-e-Islami has filed an appeal against the successful candidates of MQM on four provincial seats. Khurram Sher Zaman has filed an appeal in the High Court. According to the Chief Justice of the High Court, the application should be filed in the Election Tribunal.

According to Barrister Salahuddin, the matter here is about declaration of results from Form 45 and Form 47, on which the law is silent, therefore the High Court must be approached.

Electoral excuses were collected in the earlier elections as well, but this time most of the candidates have resorted to Form 45. Recounting is not requested, but the returning officers issuing the result on Form 47 in the light of Form 45 is the reason for the dispute. . The candidates say that the returning officers have altered their votes. The Election Commission should immediately revise its decisions in this regard and the candidates who have the result of Form 45 should be decided accordingly. The Presiding Officers were required to display the signed final result of Form 45 outside the polling station, but this was not implemented in many polling stations. Thus, many problems have arisen and the election is being declared controversial.

The global media has also criticized issues like suspension of internet and mobile service, delay in election results. The results of the postal ballot have also not been released yet. Postal ballot results should have been compiled earlier. There is a lot of debate going on about rejected votes in the election. According to the report of the elections held in Karachi on 22 seats of the National Assembly and 47 seats of the Sindh Assembly, a total of 97 thousand votes have been rejected. This number is staggering. In the city of Karachi, where the number of educated people is very high, despite this, such a large number of votes have been rejected, as far as the turnout is concerned, it is also surprising that the turnout has been very low in some areas of Karachi. . People across the country came out to cast their votes, but in Karachi constituency PS 122, it was around 25 percent. Even in this regard, people could not be satisfied.

People's Party is the majority party in the Sindh Assembly, MQM has got the second number of votes. But Shahbaz Sharif is the majority party in Karachi. Before the election, MQM had several talks with PML-N, but Shahbaz Sharif could not contest the election from Karachi. I had reached to meet Nawaz Sharif, MQM's initiative to help the Muslim League-N to form the government has also sent a message to the People's Party that it will be an ally of the Muslim League-N in the federation, the People's Party's She will talk separately about the affairs of Sindh, while in the demands of the People's Party, the desire to make Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the prime minister is not being expressed. There is speculation that the People's Party will be offered the post of President. According to informed sources, MQM will try to get Sindh Governorship and Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker seat. While he also wants a share in the city government of Karachi.

The MQM Afaq group has also expressed concerns over the election results and has talked about protesting and taking legal action in this regard.

Former Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has expressed his surprise at the MQM getting more seats, while he should have been surprised at the Muslim League-N getting more seats. According to informed sources, Murad Ali Shah may get an important ministry in the federation, while Syed Nasir Hussain Shah is considered a very strong candidate for the chief ministership of Sindh. Although PPP sources are reluctant to speak openly in this regard, Nasir Hussain Shah is being declared as the favorite.

The political circles of the country are calling the new alignment as PDM-2. In reality it will be PDM-3 because the caretaker government was also a layer of PDM and it can be called PDM-2.

According to the Trading Economics website, Pakistan is ranked 13th in the list of most expensive countries. Food inflation has increased. The rate of inflation in Pakistan is increasing day by day. Economic analysts of Pakistan admit that the lack of continuity in economic policies is also one of the reasons while corruption has gripped the country.

Even in the recent election, politicians have been blaming each other for inflation. Currently, energy prices and currency exchange rates are very high in Pakistan. It will be a big challenge for the new government how to control inflation. The purchasing power of the people of Pakistan has reduced a lot. House and transport fares are not available to the public. This is why both living and doing business in Pakistan is difficult. The new government will have to take important decisions for this.

Karachi Diary

 Karachi Diary

Mubasher Mir

Regarding the election 2024, the Election Commission has claimed that all the preparations have been completed. Strict security arrangements are being made on the election day, February 8. Cameras are being installed in the polling station, while Rangers will be present outside the polling station. The Election Commission will also get the services of the army.

The number of sensitive polling stations across Sindh is more than six and a half thousand. Where a heavy contingent of police and rangers has been indicated. It has been made mandatory for the presiding officers to leave the polling station only after completing the results, while the results must be completed by 2 pm.

Polling agents of all political parties have also been trained to complain immediately if there is a delay in receiving Form 45. Form 45 shall be the final unofficial result of any polling station issued under the signature of the Presiding Officer.

There is a public concern that if the internet service is suspended or disrupted on election day, it may affect the results. Candidates may have difficulty connecting with voters. On this, the Election Commission has taken a position that the internet service is closed by the federal government, although the head of the Election Commission has the powers of the chief executive of the country on the day of the election, apart from peace and order, the media and other issues. One should exercise his authority, if voters or political parties have any grievances, they should be redressed immediately.

The role of media is very important regarding the conduct and results of elections. Media representatives should have freedom to work throughout the country, in this regard the Election Commission and the Ministry of Information should arrange special facilities. In particular, the offices of the Returning Officers should be accessible to media representatives.

The election campaign of political parties is nearing its end, other political parties have taken out meetings, processions and rallies in their election campaign. But the candidates supported by Tehreek-e-Insaf did not have the freedom to campaign freely, it can be said that a level playing field was not provided for them, on which they have many objections. However, he has used social media, through which his message has gone to his voters, how much success he has had in this, it will be judged by the election results.

Addressing a rally in Karachi, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari once again said that there is competition between the two parties. After all, why is Bilawal Bhutto giving importance to his rival Muslim League while he has also said that People's Party independent candidates. will form the government together with If there is competition between two parties, how will independent candidates win? As if there is a fear of independent candidates in political parties. Those independent candidates who have the support of Tehreek-e-Insaaf.

Due to the disastrous situation caused by the heavy rain in Karachi, all public circles including Jamaat-e-Islami have criticized the People's Party. Mayor Karachi has also given his explanation that he has drained the accumulated water in record time. Many areas have been restored but lack of emergency arrangements is a cause for concern. In fact, the situation looks worse due to non-cleaning of garbage cisterns from all over the city.

A difficult situation has arisen for MQM as MQM founder Altaf Hussain did not support the current MQM candidates. Although the MQM held a large rally in Hyderabad, an ANP delegation met MQM leaders to announce their support for their candidate, with their governor also calling for increased public support. It has also started many welfare projects, in which the IT training of the youth in Sindh Governor's House is at the top.

People's Party has also got the support of Muslim League-Q. The leaders of both the parties have agreed on this. Muslim League-Q Sindh President Tariq Hasan has previously shared power with the People's Party, now the Muslim League-Q Sindh is a pressure group. It was the right decision for him to stay with the People's Party and later he would return to the corridors of power.

The Press Information Department of the Federal Information Department organized a seminar on the challenges for the new government, in which a large number of senior journalists participated. While Federal Minister Murtaza Solangi and Principal Information Officer Dr. Tariq Khan specially participated. PID DG Ms. Iram Tanveer made the arrangements under her supervision.

Senior journalist Mehmood Sham expressed two major challenges for the new government, he said that how to restore the economy and strengthen the relationship between the people and the state will need to be worked on. In fact, the improvement in both these matters will happen only when the civil-military relations in Pakistan are balanced. All previous political regimes have suffered from imbalance in civil-military relations. The new government should work in this regard first, this will restore the confidence of the people and the state and the economy will also be on the right track.