KARACHI: With the general elections only a month away, Karachi’s key political parties are vying to display their strength at the iconic Bagh-e-Jinnah, a venue that holds immense significance to the country’s electoral scene since it is adjacent to the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
The area is not just a vast expanse of land but also a symbol of political might that can help gauge public support for a party. Organizing a successful rally in Bagh-e-Jinnah is challenging. Yet, it is a powerful statement since filling up this mighty space requires organizational skills and popular appeal.
With the national polls scheduled for February 8, the planning for these pivotal rallies is underway, marking an essential phase in the electoral campaigns of political parties in the country’s largest city.
“The Muttahida Qaumi Movement announced their presence in Karachi and Sindh by holding rallies at Nishtar Park,” Syed Amin-ul-Haque, a former federal minister affiliated with the MQM, told Arab News. “After that, we realized that Nishtar Park, Kakri Ground and Nazimabad’s Eidgah Ground were not big enough for us. So, the party took the courageous decision to look for a bigger place and kicked off its rallies at Bagh-e-Jinnah.”
The MQM made an unparalleled record by successfully holding a female-only rally at Bagh-e-Jinnah in 2012.
“We have proved ourselves to be the largest political party of Karachi [through Bagh-e-Jinnah rallies] in the last three decades,” Haque continued.
The MQM leader informed his party was planning a grand show at the venue on January 21, which he hoped would turn out to be the biggest rally during this election season in Karachi.
Other political stakeholders in the cities, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have staged impressive rallies in the area previously. The country’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, displayed PTI’s strength by gathering massive crowds near Jinnah’s mausoleum in 2011 and 2013.
Speaking to Arab News, Jamaat-e-Islami’s top official in the city, Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman, said his party would hold a public rally at Bagh-e-Jinnah on January 28.
“Jamaat-e-Islami emerged as the biggest party in the local election held in Karachi last year in January. It secured maximum number of votes and seats,” he said, adding his political faction also hoped to outshine others in the general elections.
The Pakistan Peoples Party said it was optimistic to win maximum number of seats from Karachi in February.
“We leave the decision on the citizens of Karachi whether they believe the Peoples Party has done something for them or not,” Saeed Ghani, a senior PPP leader, told Arab News. “I believe we have. Therefore, people have started voting for the Peoples Party in areas where the party had not even imagined winning.”
Ghani’s party has been ruling Sindh for over a decade, making him say with confidence it would organize the biggest rally in the city during the election campaigns this year wherever it decided to hold the public gathering.
However, he recognized that Bagh-e-Jinnah had become the most prominent venue in the city for political parties wanting to gather huge crowds and display their political strength. PPP’s own co-chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, held his first public gathering at the same place in 2014, attracting a large number of supporters in a jampacked space.
“When Peoples Party organizes a big rally or event and people come out in huge numbers to support it, it helps change the perception of anyone who thinks the party is getting weak,” he said. “For the elections, I am very clear that more activities [like holding public rallies] lead to an increase in voting turnout.”