Rangers keep voters and political workers in check

The narrow streets in the PS-114 (Karachi-XXVI) constituency were flooded with workers and supporters of political parties on Sunday, but apart from a few skirmishes, the police and Rangers deployed in the constituency did not let anyone disrupt law and order.

A number of incidents were reported from Chanesar Goth, Manzoor Colony and Azam Basti, where workers and supporters of the contesting candidates clashed with voters after exchanging heated words.

While 27 contenders participated in the by-election, the real competition was between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

A polling station established at the Government Boys Secondary School Chanesar Goth became the centre of attraction for a major part of the day soon after independent candidate Mehmood Khan’s chief polling agent Sultan Laasi was beaten up around 9:30am. Khan blamed PPP workers for the incident.

Later, the PTI’s Haleem Adil Sheikh and the PML-N’s Sultan Bahadur rushed to the school and accused PPP candidate Senator Saeed Ghani’s brother Farhan Ghani and his companions for manhandling Laasi. Irate PPP workers, supporters and voters shouted slogans against the PTI and PML-N, but the two parties countered the slogans with their own.

When the voters and workers of the three parties barged into the polling station, voting at booths No 79, 85, 86, 87 and 90 was temporarily suspended, but it was later resumed after a heavy contingent of police and Rangers brought the situation under control.

MQM-P chief Dr Farooq Sattar, leader Amir Khan and candidate Kamran Tessori, the PPP’s candidate Saeed Ghani and leader Waqar Mehdi, the PTI’s candidate Najeeb Haroon and leaders Asad Umar, Imran Ismail and Dr Arif Alvi, the PML-N’s candidate Ali Akbar Gujjar and the Jamaat-e-Islami’s candidate Zahoor Jadoon also visited the school.

Clashes and heated arguments between political rivals were also reported from Manzoor Colony, Azam Basti and Defence View. PPP and MQM-P workers clashed outside a polling station in Azam Basti UC-3. Later, Rangers troops arrived on the scene and dispersed them.

PTI and PML-N workers exchanged heated words in Manzoor Colony, hurling allegations against their respective leaders, while a heated argument followed by a fight broke out between PPP and MQM-P workers in Defence View, but the Rangers brought the situation under control.

Keeping the situation in view, the provincial election commission had established a complaint cell to address voter problems. Abdul Hameed Gul was nominated as the cell’s incharge, but voters lamented that the cell remained unattended.

Preparations for by-poll

According to the 1998 census, the total population of PS-114 was 266,991. There are 12 charges, 74 circles and 403 blocks in the constituency. The total number of registered voters is 193,892 (112,203 men and 81,689 women).

Ninety-two polling stations were set up in 28 government and 24 private buildings. Of them 90 stations were combined, while one each was exclusive for men and women. Three hundred and sixty-eight polling booths were set up. Of them 184 each were established for men and women.

The constituency covers Mehmoodabad No 1 to 6, Chanesar Goth, Manzoor Colony, Akhtar Colony, Azam Basti, Kashmir Colony, Defence View and Karachi Administration Employees Cooperative Housing Society.  

Security arrangements

Initially 33 of the polling stations were declared sensitive, but a day before Election Day all of them were categorised as sensitive. Rangers officials were tasked with transporting ballot papers to the polling stations. Karachi police deployed 1,236 officials, including an SSP, two SPs, six DSPs and 13 SHOs.

A representative of an NGO and four policemen were deployed inside every polling station, while four cops were stationed at the main entrance and two of them were assigned search duty. Two policewomen were deployed at the entrance for searching female voters, while two policemen were assigned security duty at every polling camp.

At every polling building a representative of an NGO and one head constable were tasked with ensuring transparency, while four policemen were deployed at the entrance and two of them were on search duty.

Two policewomen were deployed at every polling building and two policemen were tasked with security at the polling camps of the political parties, with two more deployed on the rooftop of every building.

Karachi police presence

Sindh police chief IGP AD Khowaja had directed the Karachi police to ensure transparency in the by-election. He ordered the SHOs to stay in PS-114 until the end of polling. He told them to ensure implementation of Section 144 that was imposed in the constituency as a security measure.

The IGP issued directives for deploying police commandos at all the sensitive polling stations and for conducting snap checking and raids in their respective vicinities. He ordered sweeping and clearance of polling stations before the start of voting and told the deployed cops to provide a sense of security to the voters and candidates.

Rangers on patrol

Two thousand Rangers officials were assigned security duty. They were deployed inside and outside the polling stations. They also patrolled the constituency on motorbikes to immediately respond in case of an emergency.

After visiting a polling station in Chanesar Goth, Rangers Sindh chief Maj Gen Muhammad Saeed told The News that the workers of two rival political parties had exchanged heated words.

However, he said, the overall situation remained satisfactory, adding that there was only one station where the workers of two rival parties had had heated arguments.

Saeed said the paramilitary officials would stay in PS-114 until the end of polling, adding that a large number of people had come out to vote, which spoke volumes about the security situation.

He confirmed that the Rangers had arrested two men for violating polling guidelines. He said one of them had been carrying weapons, while the other was detained because he had tried to recast his vote.

The Rangers chief said the district returning officer and police had not received any complaint. The paramilitary force had requested the voters to contact them if anyone attempted to stop them from exercising their right to vote.