Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Awami Workers Party (AWP) concluded its political campaign for the electoral battle of NA 53 and NA 54 with music and traditional dance with the hope to defeat the shadows of extremism in a country with a fresh dawn of progressive Pakistan on true democratic values beyond creed, caste, sect and gender.

The concluding gathering of the political outlet was arranged at Islamabad where people from various segments of life, labourers, trade union members, people of kachi abadis, minority groups and the contenders from Islamabad attended the gathering.

Addressing the gathering, Ismat Raza Shah Jahan, candidate from NA 54 said, “We are the legacy of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Habib Jalib and Asma Jahangir and we have chosen the way of resistance and we will continue our struggle inside and outside the parliament for the right of laborers, women and minorities being harmed from extremism in the country.”

She warned the banned outlets contesting elections on different names that AWP is here to defeat your conservative aims which have already harmed the country.

“We will never give you space to impose the extremist agenda in the country,” Ismat Raza Shah Jahan said, adding that the state should clarify how the banned firebrands are contesting elections in the country as they were in 4th schedule and their assets were frozen.

“We all know who the powers backing them are,” she said.

Candidate from NA 53 Ammar Rashid while addressing the gathering, added that during the elections, the politicians go from door to door, demanding votes but turn a blind eye as soon as they come into power, as they have no wish to do something for us.

“All they want is to earn billions. But we will change the system through our manifesto and ideology where we will provide shelter, jobs and food to the people,” he said. Pointing out the election scenario on how a 20 grade magistrate can challenge political parties through section 144 not to arrange gatherings in the city.

Commenting on the banned outlets contesting elections, Ammar Rashid commented that this is not an electoral battle between two parties but a battle between good and evil and “we will defeat these black shadows of extremism where 80,000 people lost their lives in the country”. He added that terrorism will be wiped out through the progressive manifesto of AWP.

He further refuted ‘conservative’ propagandists’ claim that his party has been promoting western culture in Pakistan, and asserted that women were confined within boundary walls of their homes while his party advocates their right to vote.

“If securing their right to vote is a western agenda, then we will continue to do so,” he said.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.