Karachi to vote without fear for the first time: Bilawal

The people of Karachi will be exercising their right of franchise without any coercion or intimidation for the first time in next month’s general elections, said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief chaired a meeting of leaders of the party’s Karachi division at the Bilawal House to discuss their election strategy in the city. The younger Zardari said Karachi has been freed from the clutches of Na Maloom Afraad (unidentified persons), adding that peace has been restored in the metropolis to a great extent due to the initiatives and efforts of the PPP government.

He said his party will sweep the general elections in Karachi because it has served the people of the city, who can easily differentiate between anti-PPP propaganda and the services rendered by the party for the metropolis.

He urged PPP leaders and workers to step up their electoral campaigns and take the message of the party to every door, telling the people that the PPP will transform Karachi into a city of opportunities for every resident.

Senate opposition leader Sherry Rehman, Rashid Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi, PPP Karachi President Saeed Ghani, General Secretary Javed Nagori, Nabeel Gabol, Yousuf Baloch, Najmi Alam, Khalil Hoath, Karamullah Waqasi, Nadia Gabol, Nadir Gabol and Shakeel Chaudhry were among those present in the meeting.

The PPP chairman himself is contesting in the July 25 general elections for the NA-246 constituency in Karachi’s Lyari Town, as well as for NA-200 in Larkana. If he wins both seats, it is likely that he will retain his native Larkana constituency and vacate the Lyari constituency, which can later be contested by his sister Aseefa Bhutto Zardari in a by-election. Bilawal is also contesting for NA-8 in Malakand.

The PPP awarded tickets to 12 women on Sunday to contest the elections on general seats. Seven of them are from Karachi, and they are being fielded in constituencies within Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) strongholds, where the PPP has a weak vote bank.

All political parties are obliged to award party tickets to women for at least five per cent of the general seats of the national and provincial assemblies they are contesting for. The PPP has a history of fielding women in direct elections, and the party’s list of national and provincial assembly candidates issued on Sunday contains names of 12 female candidates who will face off their rivals on July 25.