Daily Times

NA-154 MULTAN

Multan: With billions of rupees worth of real estate investment and several important development projects tied to the area, the constituency of NA-154 (earlier NA-151), nearly 70 percent of which falls under the rural category, is expected to be the site of the most important electoral showdown in Multan.

It is said that the future of Multan city will depend on this constituency. Real estate tycoons have invested over Rs500 billion to build residential colonies and roads. At the rate that development is taking place here, the constituency’s rural locality is expected to soon be absorbed into urban Multan. One of the many important real estate projects in this constituency is the Defence Housing Authority. The literacy rate of people in this constituency is perhaps the lowest in Multan district, and votes are usually apportioned on the basis of loyalties to various feudal families. The total number of registered voters in this constituency are 385,233 including 208,008 male voters and 177,225 female voters.

The lead up to polling in this constituency has been contentious. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PT) is said to have taken its biggest gamble by fielding a feudal lord, Ahmad Hussain Dehar, instead of its earlier candidate Mian Muhammad Suleiman Qureshi, who was then picked by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). This is one of the nine constituencies in which the PTI finalised tickets for at the last hour and when it finally announced its pick, they had decided to field Dehar instead of Sikandar Hayat Bosan.

Several voters of NA-154, however, say they have rejected Dehar’s candidacy and have written an open letter to the PTI leadership raising their concerns. Slogans of “Dehar unacceptable” are written on the letter, which also carries a picture of Dehar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who struggled for Dehar’s ticket

Bosan has been involved in the politics of this area for the last 50 years, and was elected in the previous election on the PML-N’s ticket. He was promised a ticket by the PTI on the condition that he would leave the PML-N as a part of an off-the-record deal. But on last day, the PTI gave a ticket to Dehar on the insistence of PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The PML-N did not give Bosan a ticket because he had disassociated himself from the PML-N.

The oft-talked about tussle between PTI leaders Jahangir Tareen and Shah Mahmood Qureshi also plays out on the issue of candidacy from this constituency. Tareen had supported Bosan’s bid for a ticket while Qureshi supported Dehar.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the main representative of the Qureshi tribe, has a centuries’ old clash with the Bosan tribe in Multan. In general elections of 2008, Dehar won from PP-200, however, due to an intense conflict with the Gillani family, Dehar left the Pakistan Peoples Party and joined the PML-N. After leaving the PML-N, Dehar has now joined the PTI. He is said to enjoy the support of industrialists and fertiliser tycoons.

Several voters of NA-154, however, say they have rejected Dehar’s candidacy and have written an open letter to the PTI leadership raising their concerns. Slogans of “Dehar unacceptable” are written on the letter, which also carries a picture of Dehar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who struggled for Dehar’s ticket. In their letter, the voters have raised five questions from the PTI vice chairman asking him why he was supporting a candidate who was allegedly involved in misuse of government funds, nepotism and selling of government jobs. Because of the above mentioned reasons, Dehar is also being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau.

Bosan is now contesting polls as an independent candidate under the symbol of “pot”. Meanwhile PTI’s South Punjab information secretary Malik Asim Dehar has extended support to Bosan opposing his own brother Malik Ahmad Hussain Dehar in NA-154. The PTI’s vote is divided because Suleiman Qureshi and Sikandar Hayat Bosan were both abandoned by the PTI.

On the other hand, the PML-N picked Mian Muhammad Suleiman Qureshi, who won 40,000 votes on a PTI ticket in the last general elections, as its candidate for the MNA seat. Suleiman Qureshi hails from Kot Addu, a sub district of Muzafargarh. He stood second after Bosan in the previous election.

Yousaf Raza Gillani could not contest the polls as he was declared ineligible by Supreme Court of Pakistan. However, his son Abdul Qadir Gillani won a seat in the Provincial Assembly from the same constituency.

Since the elections of 1985, the two feudal families – Bosans and Gillanis – competed against each other. Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani became prime minister after winning from this constituency in 2008.

The PPP considers this constituency a stronghold in south Punjab. Abdul Qadir Gillani is contesting polls on an MNA seat here. In the by-elections of 2016, the PPP won only a chairman seat from this constituency (UC-67). Now, the party has nominated the same candidate Shakil Labar from PP-216. PPP candidate Ali Haider Gillani, who was abducted in 2013, is contesting from PP-211 and is vying for sympathy votes in all his public addresses. The second PPP candidate is Amir Labar in PP-212.

In their corner meetings, PPP leaders have been focusing on agriculture reforms. On the other hand, Gillani has been visiting religious seminaries to garner their support. During his meeting with South Punjab Nazim of Wafaq-ul-Madaris al-Arabia Maulana Zubair Ahmad Siddique at Jamia Farooqia Shujabad, Gillani assured him that after coming into government, the PPP would remove the ban on registration of religious seminaries and collection of hides. Moreover, he resolved to give freedom to religious seminaries to promote education.

Published in Daily Times, July 14^th 2018.