* Shadow looms further due to high-handedness, arm-twisting, heavy security forces presence in other districts
QUETTA: The political affiliation of the overwhelming majority of Balochistan’s district governments — vested in the coalition partners that constituted the last provincial government, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Awami) — is likely to significantly add to doubts surrounding the likelihood of fair and free general elections.
As many as 23 of the 28 districts of the province are currently ruled by nazims who belong to these parties. This greatly adds fuel to opposition parties’ fears that the pro-establishment parties will utilise government resources to have their favourite candidates elected in the upcoming polls, slated for January 8.
Balochistan has 14 National Assembly (NA) seats. In each of the constituent districts that vote in the 14 NA members, a nazim belonging to either PML-Q, JUI-F or the BNP-Awami is serving as the administrative and financial head.
In Quetta district, for example, where elections for NA-259-Quetta will take place, PML-Q nazim Mir Maqbool Lehri rules.
For the NA-260-Quetta-cum-Chagai-cum-Noshki constituency, the district nazims hail from former ruling party PML-Q in all three districts. Aside from Quetta, the nazims of Chagai, Mir Hashim Khan Notezai, and Noshki, Mir Bahadur Khan Mengal, belong to the PML-Q.
NA-261-Pishin-cum-Ziarat comes under the jurisdiction of two nazims belonging to the JUI-F, a major coalition partner in Balochistan’s previous government entrusted with more than 15 ministries.
Pishin nazim Maulana Kamaluddin Kakar and Ziarat nazim Dilawar Khan Kakar belong to the JUI-F — which has parted ways with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on boycotting the elections and has decided to participate with vigour. JUI-F has another nazim serving in another National Assembly constituency, NA-262-Qilla Abdullah, where Haji Adam Khan of the Jamiat holds sway.
If one takes onboard opposition parties’ allegations that district governments will change the face of the elections, NA-263-Loralai-cum-Musakhel-cum-Barkhan should be a cakewalk for the PML-Q. The former ruling party has district nazims in all the three districts — Sardar Asmatullah, Barkhan, and Mir Habibullah Khetran are all staunch PML-Q members.
In NA-264-Zhob-cum-Sherani-cum-Qilla Saifullah, JUI-F supporters control the district governments in Zhob and Killa Saifullah. NA-265-Sibi-cum-Kohlu-cum-Dera Bugti-cum-Hernai is one of the few districts where the former political coalition partners do not enjoy the nazims’ support. Nevertheless, even this stands countered by the heavy presence of security forces in Dera Bugti and Kohlu. This presence has made it impossible for journalists to visit these two troubled districts independently and does not bode well for the opposition. Moreover, one of the districts in this constituency, Sibi, is headed by Mir Ali Mardan Domki, a staunch PML-Q supporter.
High-handed, arm-twisting: The highhandedness of the government towards the elected nazims of Kohlu and Dera Bugti pose serious questions regarding the transparency of the upcoming elections.
For example, Mir Kazim Bugti, the actual democratically-elected nazim of Dera Bugti was forcibly ousted by the establishment because he belonged to the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. Now, the district is headed by a so-called independent nazim, who could not have descended on this position without the consent of “invisible soldiers”.
Similarly, Mir Ali Gul Marri, district nazim of Kohlu, was sent a very harsh message from the official quarters-that-be that he must withdraw his support to Baloch nationalists. When Marri wanted to offer a fateha for the departed soul of Mir Balaach Marri — a Baloch guerilla fighter killed last month in mysterious circumstances — the district nazim was put under house arrest and threatened with “dire consequences”.
NA-266-Nasirabad-cum-Jaffarabad and NA-267-Bolan-cum-Jhal Magsi constitute four districts where all the district nazims belong to the PML-Q. In Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Bolan and Jhal Magsi, nazims Sardar Fateh Mohammad Umrani, Mir Khan Mohammad Jamali, Sardar Khan Rind and Nawabzada Khalid Hussain Khan Magsi all hail from influential families who have supported the ruling parties throughout history. This time around it is the PML-Q. Political pundits, therefore, contend that it will prove easy for the PML-Q to misuse official apparatus for its electioneering. In NA-268-Kalat-cum-Mustung, the former ruling party will have onboard Mir Niamtullah Khan Zehri. Mustung will be an exception for the PML-Q as the district nazim, Sardar Kamal Khan Bangulzai, belongs to the BNP-A. However, if the BNP-A boycotts the polls, even this obstacle would stand removed from the path of the ruling parties.
NA-270-Awaran-cum-Lasbela will have prominent PML-Q leader Jam Mir Kamal Khan, son of the former Balochistan chief minister Jam Mohammad Yousaf, in charge of a district where important PML-Q actors will contest a coveted NA seat. This seat has almost always gone to the Pakistan Muslim League due to the influence of the Jam and Bhothani families.
Two pro-PML-Q nazims are presently serving in two districts, and NA-271 and 272. In NA-271-Kharan-cum-Washuk-cum-Panjgur, the PML-Q’s Mir Shaukat Ali and the BNP-A’s Ali Akbar are in charge. In NA-272-Kech-cum-Gwadar the PML-Q’s Mir Rauf Rind and BNP-A’s Mir Abdul Ghafoor Kalmati are serving as district nazims of Kech and Gwadar respectively.
NA-269 is the only NA constituency where the district nazim does not hail from any of the three coalition partners. Sardar Naseer Ahmed Moosini of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) heads the district government in Khuzdar.
According to a senior analyst, Shahzada Zulfiqar, the heavy presence of pro-establishment nazims in the mass majority of districts in the province is likely to undermine the credibility of the January polls. “There is a great possibility of these nazims being directly involved in deciding the fate of many seats as they can use the official machinery to influence the results,” he told Daily Times. malik siraj akbar
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=200712 6story_6-12-2007_pg7_27 |
