Multan’s Voters Interview

Ahsan Bhatti
43, is a teacher of Mass Communication and lives in Officers’ Colony. Bad sewerage system is the biggest issue of his area. He said that he lodged several complaints to the Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA) and elected  MPA (member of provincial assembly) from his constituency but all in vain.  He said, “If a candidate for councillor or Nazim from my union council asks us to vote for him, he has to promise us that he will fix this ages old sewerage problem on priority basis. Only then we will vote for him.” Bhatti said, “We have suffered it in past that whomever we voted for never showed up after his victory.”

Musarat Javed
34, is a house wife and lives near Gol Bagh, Gulgasht Colony. She says that the area she lives in is purely a residential one, approved by the Multan Development Authority (MDA), even then some people have constructed private hostels in the neighborhood which is not allowed. Presence of boys and men around these hostels has confined women to their houses. This is the biggest for the problem females of the vicinity right now. “We have also informed police authorities about this issue but they were unmoved,” Musarrat told.   Shed further said, “I will prefer voting a female contestant from my union council in the local elections so that they could understand our problem and resolve it.

Nadia Batool
32, is a student living in Mumtazabad.  She said, “Major hindrance for me in reaching college is unavailability of proper transport.” She wishes to see local government system working again in her district because that can solve her problem. She quoted an example from the previous local government when the then Vice Nazim arranged a local bus only for women with the help of local people. She said, “I wish local elections take place and I will play my role to make them successful.”

Sheikh Faisal
82, is a linen merchant and lives in the interior Multan. Faisal said that his basic problem was the old and decayed buildings of his area, many of them had collapsed and some were about to kiss the ground. He told that a survey conducted by district Nazim in previous local government declared 525 buildings dangerous. At that time the district government chalked out a plan too to demolish those old buildings but that plan couldn’t be implemented because the tenure of the Nazim had ended. Faisal said, “If former Nazim contests this election I will vote for him but if comes a new candidate I would only vote him on the condition that he will solve our problem.”

Nosheen Ali
Is a lawyer and lives in Multan Cantonment. She told that the basic problem in the neighborhood was the provision of clean drinking water. “Water filtration plants have been planted in the area but they are insufficient in numbers,” she said.  Naureen suggested that government should increase numbers of these plants and WASA should arrange a water filtration plant on those spots from where the water was supplied to the rest of the Cantt area.  Naureen showed least interest in talking about the coming local bodies’ election and changed the topic by saying, “What these candidates will do after becoming Nazims? They all make tall claims and never keep their words. They only knock on your doors to bag votes and then you never see them again.”

Mohtashim Ali
42, is an educationist and a resident of Bosan road. According to Ali Cleanliness of his area is a serious problem right now. He says that streets in his neighborhood are not clean and no cleaning staff comes to sweep the filth away which result in spreading different diseases, in fact dengue mosquitos also nourish here. He said, “It is a dilemma of our society that only few pure politicians are left and business minded politicians have taken over politics. They cannot spare time to solve our issues.” Ali is of the view that these politicians should take steps to solve problems in the government. Today people vote for their own self-interest., they should be aware of its consequences.

Imran Ahmed
32, is a resident of Gulgasht colony. For him unavailability of proper roads is the biggest problem. He said that people face difficulties in transportation due to the worst condition of roads. “I voted for Sikandar Boson, when people asked him to solve their issues he said that he never asked us to vote for him. All politicians are alike they take politics as a business,” Ahmed lamented.

A 34 year old female
Resident (who doesn’t want her name to be disclosed) of Garden Town thinks that increasing incidents of burglary and theft in her area are matters of great concern. “Politicians make tall claims and promises to bag votes but once they are elected they forget all those promises. I will only vote for the candidate who will solve our problems in coming local bodies’ elections,” she said

Tabinda
38, is a resident of Nawab Pur road. She said that there was no clean drinking water available in her area and street crime had increased to an alarming extent. She said, “In coming local government elections, I will vote for the person who is honest and has a better understanding of  problems and issues of my neighborhood.”

Samreen
38, is a resident of exterior Dehli Gate. She said that the major problem of her area was encroachments. “Town municipal authority (TMA) staff does come to eliminate these encroachments but its all eyewash, hence encroachments are still there,” she said. Samreen thinks that social workers should contest local bodies’ elections, only they can solve these problems.