Bhootani aims to achieve tangible goals in Gwadar

ISLAMABAD: Balochistan’s Lasbella cum Gwadar constituency, NA-272, is the last constituency of the National Assembly but is the jewel among all constituencies for many reasons and top of all is that the deep-sea Gwadar port lies here, which was the key factor in fetching dollars 62 billion foreign investment.

An independent candidate and veteran politician, who has served as the deputy speaker and speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, Muhammad Aslam Bhootani returned from NA-272, securing 68,804 votes, maximum votes pocketed by any candidate across Balochistan in 2018 general election.

Bhootani clinched victory by defeating two heavyweights, who are also heads of their respective parties i.e. Sardar Akhtar Mengal of Balochistan National Party (BNP), who secured 4186 votes and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Jam Kamal Khan, who got 63275 votes from this constituency spreading over 1000 kilometres and a stretch of 750-km is the coastline from Guddani to Jewani, covering Iranian border as well.

Some interesting statistics available on the website of the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding the electoral process in this particular constituency are: the turn-out here has been quite promising i.e. 56.02 percent, as out of total registered 356879 voters, 199918 polled their votes. They included 118479 males and very surprisingly out of 153412 female voters, over fifty percent i.e. 82442 exercised their voting right. Hence, 189425 votes were declared valid.

It goes without saying that whosoever forms government in the centre as well as in the province, just can’t ignore this constituency, its people and above all, their elected representative from here.

When approached on telephone for his comment on his victory and the importance of the constituency, Bhootani told The News that he was quite happy to return to the National Assembly, where he would staunchly defend the interests of not only his constituency but also the province.

He said the victory was a double delight for him, as on one hand, he defeated with convincing margins heads of two parties, one was formed just ahead of elections (BAP), consisting of electables, who keep on winning for so many years and the other was BNP, whose leader is Sardar Akhtar Mengal.

He added that Jamalis, Domkis, Khosos and sardars were combined under BAP yet he managed to win hearts of voters in this constituency.

“Gwadar is the future of Pakistan and is strategically so important and it can be gauged from the very fact that it is in the neighbourhood of Chabahar Port of Iran, Gaddani, Straight of Hormuz and it oversees Oman,” he explained. It is on the southwestern coast of the province and is located on the shores of Arabian Sea, some 700 kilometres to the west of mega port of Karachi.

Asked what was his political strategy with regards to alignment in the Centre, Bhootani said he would not go to anybody. If anyone needed his support, he should approach him, remembering that his conduct would be subject to safeguarding the interests of his constituency and his people. “We need tangible benefits of the massive foreign investment and that shall remain my priority number one,” he contended.