Faisalabad Voters’ Interviews

By Mohammad Saleem

Sonia
27 an illiterate divorced woman, works at a hosiery unit in Ghulam Muhammadabad to earn a few pennies so that she could stand against her abject poverty. Sonia finds her workplace quite unfriendly for her gender. She wishes that whoever gets elected in the local bodies election should ensure special units for female workers with less male dominance. She is of the view that females could help district council to fetch much needed funds by contributing in the national economy if they are given safe working environment.

Mian Shahbaz
37, a graduate owns a hardware shop in Jhang Bazaar. The biggest problem he faces is the lack of parking space near his workplace. He said that he would stress the district council chairman to ensure parking plazas near the Clock Tower bazaars. ”Lack of parking lots force customers to go to other markets instead of suffering a mental agony at Clock Tower bazaars to find parking,” Shahbaz said.  He said this condition had reduced the business volume of the Clock Tower markets.

Bano Bibi
55 of Rasheed Abad is a chronic patient of hepatitis. She cursed the authorities at the helm of affairs who did nothing to keep industries away from the city areas. She said because of the industries’ waste in the vicinity, a large number of people were suffering from hepatitis. She urged strenuous efforts by the elected people to move industries away from the colonies. She said, “Lethargy on part of the electable is landing people in an outlandish situation.”

Nadeem Akram
45, a trader at a gray cloth market said that the district council chairman should make efforts to set up reconciliation committees at union council levels. He believed that such approach would help reducing litigation and enmities amongst the families and tribes.
He said, “Presently people are being exploited at police station and courts and they are helpless against the corrupt elements of both departments.”
He suggested that menace of adulteration and quackery should also be inflexibly controlled by bringing the culprits to task.

Mohammad Qasid
19, works at a power loom in Jamil Town, a town housing majority of power loom workers. They wish to have a labour colony in Faisalabad. Qasid said that workers contributed a lot to the economy with their hard work but nobody was ready to pay heed to their miseries. “Perks and privileges of the politicians always increase but no fringe benefits for the labor force,” he lamented.

(Interviews: Muhammad Saleem)

Rana Gulzar
63, A Fruit seller lives in the Sir Syed town Faisalabad.  His biggest problem, while living in the town, is bad sanitation. He is of the view that providing proper sanitation to the area is responsibility of local government and he will vote for the candidate who will solve this problem.
A Traffic warden Muhammad Abbas is a 30 years old graduate and lives in Jaranwala. For him lack of education is the basic hurdle in the way of prosperity. He said, “Government should provide education facilities to every corner of the country.” He said that he could not find a single deserving candidate since the birth of Pakistan thus he never casted his vote. “If someone asks me to choose a local representative, I will go for the less corrupt candidate but I feel that all the candidates are corrupt,” he said.

Waseem Shah
Is a 24 years old policeman and lives in Tandlianwala. For him transportation is the major problem in his locality.  He said that his family always voted on the basis of cast and there were two major casts, Watoos and Baloch. “Elected candidate should be focusing on resolving transportation issue of the locale,” he advised.

Tahir Javed
23, is a photocopier spending his life at D-type colony Faisalabad. His basic need is availability of clean drinking water. He said that elected candidate should ensure the provision of filtration plants in the vicinity to improve the quality of drinking water, apart from that wish he said he will only vote for the candidate who has a high popularity graph.

Fareed
43, an educated business man lives in green view society said, “Street lights and street crimes are the major problems. Candidate should visit different areas to solve these problems.” Fareed doubts politicians and thinks that they only join politics to make money, it’s a business for them and they have no interest in solving problems or issues of the public. “I will choose a candidate on the basis of his personality and level of education.”

(Asif Bajwa)

Adnan Naeem
25, is a research assistant at Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) and a resident of Islamia Park, Faisalabad. He is of the view that problems in his area and throughout the city are numerous. “I am working in a department which deals with the analysis of water; therefore I know that water supplied to Faisalabad is untreated and not good for drinking. People are forced to buy drinking water which comes in blue containers, that water is also unhealthy,” he disclosed. He said “I am not interested in politics but if I have to vote, I will choose somebody who comes with a vision of providing safe, clean and healthy drinking water to the citizens by establishing a chain of water treatment plants in the city.

Rubab
30, a school teacher, resident of Samanabad Faisalabad said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) are traditional political parties. They are just taking their turns and have no interest in resolving public issues. Main problem in district Faisalabad is the poor literacy rate due to poverty and unemployment. She opined, “If people have jobs, they will send their children to schools. Condition of public schools is in shambles.” Rubaba suggested that government officials and politicians must improve standards of those schools. “I like Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) because this party is more energetic and youth based,” she told.

Rehman
27, a student and resident of Ghulam Muhammad Abad, Faisalabad, said that the main problem of his area is street crimes. “There is no security provided by police, therefore  the resident of the vicinity have hired private security guards and watch men to counter threats of being robbed on the streets.” He said that government should not only provide security but also order local police to recover the looted valuables by tracking down the criminals. “I would prefer PTI candidate for local bodies election because they have young blood and hope for youth,” Rehman said.

Muhammad Saeed
40, is a shopkeeper at Katchery bazar Faisalabad and a resident of Kaleem Shaheed Colony Faisalabad. He said that there were expectations of socio economic change after the formation of new government but all in vain. Today circumstances are grimmer than ever before. He said “There is no trading activity going on in the markets. Developmental works in all the areas have been put on a halt since the completion of last local government’s tenure.” As opined by Saeed, “Government should go into local bodies election as soon as possible so that problems of people could be resolved at their door step.”

Zara Hafeez
26, a house wife, resident of Gulfishan colony Faisalabad, said that there were a few public health centers in the city which were not sufficient to provide health facilities to all citizens. “People are forced to pay heavy money to private clinics and hospitals. Neither any political party practically aims at providing basic health facilities to people, nor have they plans to expand health care centers’ network and provide free medicines and health care to the patients of the locality.” She said that a truly elected leadership should be there to solve the grave conditions of basic necessities of life to all.
(Interviews: Jahnagir Ashraf)

Abid Ali
36, works in private sector and lives in Malik Pur Faisalabad. He said that sewerage and clean drinking water were the major problem of his area. “Concerning departments should play their role to resolve these problems and politicians should think in favor of general public.” He said that only that candidate should be elected who has guts to fulfill his commitments.

Sonia
30, a master’s degree holder house wife resides in Ghulam Muhammadabad, Faisalabad. Her major problems are lack of health facilities, parks, clean drinking water and cleanliness of the area where she lives. She said that it was mandatory for the government to provide public with all these basic facilities. She said she would vote on the basis of cast.

Abdul Munaf
42, a retired air force personal is now working in private sector. He lives in Umair Town Faisalabad. For Munaf, gas, air pollution and clean drinking water are the major problems of his area.  “Elected candidate has to take firm steps to fixing these issues on priority,” he expects. Although he said that he would vote on party basis.

Irum
25, student of D pharmacy at a Government University lives in Islam Nagar. The main issues she faces are bad health facilities, clean drinking water, sewerage problem and pollution. She said that elected candidate should take concrete steps to address those problems and provide residents of her area with a healthy environment. She said that she would vote on party basis.

Abdul Rehman
50, is a power loom worker and lives in a neglected part of Ghulam Muhammadabad. Despite other problems he is worried about the education of his children. He is of the view that political representatives and district management should take necessary action to resolve this problem so that children from poor families could also get education. He said, “For me, cast, influence and power, all are considered while choosing a candidate in local government elections.

(Interviews: Kashif Lashari)