Hyderabad: Lack of awareness and sense of improvement make people diaper in a zigzag way, this is what people from Pakistan are doing for so many years.
Electing their favorite candidate as a legislator or at any other post is considered a basic right of human being, but river flow from bottom to top here in Pakistan. People are totally unaware of their right to vote.
It is the time to take the oath for upcoming tenure, the decision for the human security and fundamental rights, the way to pave the paths of mechanical system of state, in order to maintain the acknowledgment in the minds of missing persons family members, the dire need to introduce a subject in political autism entitled “Pak stands against feudalists” because human is born free so, it becomes his birthright to live at liberty.
They should not merely struggle to retain their own right but of human being, at large. People who deny mental slavery are free in this world to live courageous and daring lives.
Whether to produce a tide in the stillness of this world, to crack the mirror of fake appearances or breaking the shackles of bigotry; all is but the need of the hour (to them).
History of courageous people will hold your name at the top of its list. When a person undertakes to challenge the status quo, victory or defeat become secondary, then there will be some possibilities to end the routes of such sculptures which are mainly manipulating the rights of common people.
When asked, Senior Journalist from Umerkot rural, Allah Bux Arisar said that a considerable number of people are illiterate, peasant and worker class, who don’t have their choice to vote, but to follow the orders of feudal lords.
Around 80 percent of people/voters are to obey the orders of their spiritual leaders (pirs). Who fear that if they refused their vote to pir, then they will be cursed by him. They will be ousted of his disciplines, employment is also a concern. Therefore, there is a major need of voter education.
Another weak Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is also major threat, here if a voter did not cast his vote in favor of the person who is expected to be in power, then after being elected to rule, targets such voters, dragging them in false cases, but ECP has totally failed to safeguard the voters, he added.
He further expressed that, this time federal government played all tricks to fail provincial government of Sindh as far as development projects, jobs and other funds are concerned. Therefore, the provincial government could not serve the people. I fear that this time voting ratio will decline drastically.
A Social Activist working for Sindhi refugees in Rajasthan based in Jodhpur, Ashok Suthar, while speaking with Daily Times shared that the socio-economic indicators of all South Asian countries are much appalling and in consequence, the human development indicators are at its lowest. This situation leads to a vicious cycle of disregard for poorer and marginalized groups wherein the conventional electoral processes of democratically elected governments remain very ineffective, influenced and less-participatory thus to be unaccountable and non-responsive to bring change when in power. Hence it is imperative to sensitize the voters about the importance of participation in an electoral process to ensure responsive, accountable and democratically elected governments. There are diverse contextual vulnerabilities prevail in south Asian countries including minorities, homelessness, disabled persons, refugees, segment of women and many others who lack access to the vote for a variety of reasons including poverty, illiteracy, intimidation, or unfair election processes to participate in the election process, thus these marginalized groups should preferably be persuaded through robustly designed voter education programs to effectively take part in electoral processes demanding their denied rights.
The voter education programs must ensure that the targeted people must understand their right as voters and exercise that right with full knowledge and responsibility. The mass voter education program in South Asian countries should cover aspects like voter motivation and preparedness to participate in the electoral process, voting and electoral process, link between basic human rights and voting rights, the role, responsibilities and rights of voters; the relationship between elections and democracy and the conditions necessary for democratic elections, secrecy of the ballot, why each vote is important and its impact on public accountability, and how votes translate into seats. It is also important that such voter education programs should be mainstreamed. He concluded.
Human Rights Activist, Kapil Dev said that Pakistan has many constituencies where minorities’ voters matter a lot in the elections. There are at least three constituencies in Sindh (2 in Tharparkar and 1 in Umerkot) where Hindu voters are more than 100,000 but what we see only one minority member is given the ticket. This really shows that minorities are not genuinely represented in the Assemblies by the elected representatives. Those who are selected on the reserved seats for the minorities have no constituency; hence they are not answerable to anyone. Political parties should give tickets to minority candidates where they are in larger number.
He said voters need to be sensitized on their rights as constituents as they are taxpayer citizens.
Active Women Foundation (AWF) president and political activist Aneesa Waliullah said that “I feel that women in our interior Sindh are less aware of the importance of Election Day, they do not have enough awareness regarding the power of their vote, and who to elect. However, before elections, it is required to check if women have their CNICs ready because NADRA does not cooperate with these women. The more female participation we will have in the election, more transparent elections we can have. Voting is crucial for women as it empowers them.”
Columnist and Analyst Abbas Khaskheli expressed his views on the topic, “I would like to quote an example of our neighboring country India where election commission ingeniously ensured voter education through launching a video game. In 2014 elections, the Election Commission of India ECI developed a video game namely ‘Get Set Vote’ to raise awareness and education of voters of all ages. The game had some important features such as registration to vote and ethical voting etc. Moreover, it was made available on the official website of Election Commission of India in both Hindi and English languages” he said.
“What we have done so far to educate our local voters? The election is about to happen and a majority of registered voters are not ready. The election is not only about to go and cast the vote but voter must have firsthand education regarding the whole electoral process. The way people of Sindh were governed during last 10 years, it has made their interest absolutely dull and they look hopeless regarding participation in forthcoming General Elections 2018. The rural population of Sindh seems unaware regarding electoral process and there is dire need to get them educate so that their motivation and preparedness can be fully ensured prior elections”, he added.
Khaskheli said, awareness raising campaigns should be kicked off in remote villages and townships of Sindh in a heartbeat so that the uneducated masses can be made educated regarding electoral process. Voters must also understand how to vote on election day, a risk of missing the opportunity, having their ballot disqualified for being improper marked, or facing other issues that can restrict or eliminate their ability to participate in the election.
Civil Society Organizations, NGOs and concerned institutes and entities should need to play their role in making registered Sindhi voters educate regarding the process. He concluded.
United Nations Youth Volunteer Fatima Rind said, “I have been working on voter education; the discovery was quite shocking for me that most of the people in our interior side, less educated, unprivileged ones do vote but the literate society has surrendered. People from middle-class families have some hope and they also participate in the election whereas elite society doesn’t feel the need to fulfill this social responsibility.”
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