Hafiz Saeed’s son makes NA-122 battle quite intriguing

LAHORE : The presence of Talha Saeed, son of Ameer Jamatud Dawa, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, in NA-122 has not only turned it into an interesting contest but also raised alarm bells for PMLN.

Traditionally, the right wing vote has sided with PMLN and split in it has seriously damaged Nawaz League in 1993 and 2018.

With the son of Jamatud Dawa Ameer in the run and also facing TLP candidate, PMLN and PTI may face a real tight contest in NA-122 where; otherwise, PMLN have scored thumping victories in 1997, 2008 from this seat.

For the 2024 elections, PMLN has once again fielded its stalwart Khawaja Saad Rafique who has been challenged by former governor Punjab and PTI-backed Sardar Latif Khan Khosa.

Two candidates of religious political parties include Muhammad Imtiaz of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and Hafiz Talha Saeed of Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), which is also dubbed as the political version of Jamatud Dawa headed by Hafiz Saeed. The party head, however, is Khalid Sindhu.

Situation is miserable for PPP as after figures like Aitezaz and Naveed Chaudhry, it has not been able to find candidates who could lead the party here.

Although the PMLN seems confident of winning this seat on the narrative of its performance, PTI supporters believe that despite all odds, the silent revolution will occur and party would emerge victorious on ballot. A challenge faced by PTI is the presence of candidates who are not party ticket holders but claiming to be the PTI candidates. One such example is seen in PP-170, a Provincial Assembly seat where a candidate Bahadur Khan claims to be PTI candidate but party NA candidate Sardar Latif Khosa in his video message has disowned him.

At a time where PTI is facing severe crisis, PMLN is also confronted with different challenges like the sympathy and anger in PTI's voter regarding the present situation, split in its traditional right wing vote due to the presence of parties like TLP, JI and MML in the run. The presence of religious political parties has damaged PMLN on multiple occasions in past. Even Talha Saeed himself set a similar example in the last general elections. In 2018, while contesting from NA-91, Sargodha, Hafiz Talha Saeed got more than 10,000 votes and PMLN lost the seat in recount while PTI's Amir Sultan Cheema was declared winner. Even in the city of Lahore, in the year 1993, then Jamaat-i-Islami Emir, Qazi Hussein Ahmed contested from NA-100 and got more than 11,000 votes. Resultantly, PMLN lost the seat with a margin of a meagre 73 votes in the hands of PPP's Khalid Ghurki. Qazi Hussein Ahmed was ally of Muslim League and Nawaz Sharif in 1988 and 1990. In most of the Punjab seats in 1993 while JI was against PMLN and in 2018 while TLP had been formed, PMLN had to face a loss in number of constituencies. The PMLN leaders, however, believe that it was the strongest political party of Punjab and in Lahore. In the 2021, Walton and Cantonment elections, PMLN showed a remarkable result.

Talking to The News, Hafiz Saeed's son and candidate of All Pakistan Markazi Muslim League Talha Saeed stated that it was premature to say anything about the poll results but the response he was receiving from the general public was terrific. He said that Pakistan Markazi Muslim League was gaining rapid popularity and its motive was to ensure the rule of masses and award them their rights which were occupied by the ruling elite.

To a question, he said there was a dire need of a party who could reunite the Pakistani nation under one banner and for this purpose, the Markazi Muslim League has come forward. 'The party will come up with a good result' said Talha Saeed.

The major chunk of present NA-122 has been carved out of previous Lahore constituencies like NA-93 (between 1988 to 1997), NA-124 and NA-125 (between 2002 to 2013) and NA-130 (2018).

The present areas falling in this constituency are part of Walton as well as Cantonment Board, including Sadr Bazaar, Girja Chowk, Sarwar Road, Subedar Colony, Old Officer Colony PAF, Tufail Road, Ghazi Road, Sarfaraz Rafiqi Road, Shami Road, Askari-10 and adjoining areas like Sector B, C, Mian Mir Colony, Mustafabad, St John Road, Khan Colony, Gulshanabad etc.

Families of retired and serving military personnel also reside here whereas this constituency forms an amalgamation of posh areas as well as areas where lower middle class of Lahore reside.

Historically, this area remained battle ground between PPP and PMLN till 2002 and later between PMLN and PTI.

Another interesting fact of this seat is that the polls results here are mostly different from other areas of Lahore. In 1988, PPP fielded Aitezaz Ahsen from here (from the major chunk of the present NA-122) and he won from a significant margin. In 1990, while PPP lost all National Assembly seats of Lahore in the hands of IJI, PPP's Aitezaz Ahsen won and was the only MNA who got elected from Lahore then. In 1993, it was Humayun Akhtar Khan who ended the winning streak of PPP from here and won this seat on the ticket of PMLN. PMLN scored first win ever then. Harun Akhtar Khan, brother of Humayon Akhtar Khan also got elected MPA from a Provincial Assembly seat (PP-119) against PPP's Qasim Zia in 1993.

In 1997, PMLN came up with Mian Abdul Waheed who won the seat comfortably against PPP's Salman Taseer, who used to be an MPA from the same area in 1988. On one of the Provincial Assembly seats, Khawaja Saad Rafique emerged victorious in 1997 whereas the other seat, which used by PP-118, the winner was PMLN's Haji Imdad.

In the year 2002, this was the only seat won by PMLQ in the urban parts of Lahore after Humayon Akhtar Khan won from here after a very tough contest against PMLN's Akram Zaki and PPP's Naveed Chaudhry. It was Humayon Akhtar Khan's second victory from here. In 2008, while it was NA-125, Khawaja Saad Rafique who won this seat comfortably. In 2013, once again, the poll results sparked controversy after Khawaja Saad Rafique's victory against PTI's Hamid Khan. The PTI rejected the poll results and levelled allegations of rigging against PMLN.

In 2018, this constituency was in spotlight because PTI founding Chairman Imran Khan fielded himself from here. After a very tough contest against PMLN's Saad Rafique, Imran Khan won the seat. Saad won again in the by-polls while the seat was vacated by Imran, however, not with a big margin and mainly due to the support of PPP which did not field candidate against him.