Posters and banners of different political parties flood every nook and corner of Rawalpindi. No physical structure on any major road and street is seen spick and span during the ongoing local body election campaign. “It seems every political party has the right to deface public property, when I step out of my house, I see multihued posters, banners and billboards, streets littered with cut-out pictures of election candidates, vehicles putting up election stickers at the rear and public and private signboards covered with posters,” says Rahat Kazmi from Pirwadhai. “Election material is degrading city environment. This menace of littering the city landscape should end. When they finish their political campaigns, the winners and losers will buss off, leaving the environment to suffer degradation, arising from the posters and banners that would litter the whole areas,” adds Rahat. “All the political parties are trying to undo one another as they embark on campaign of defamation through removal and defacing of posters and banners of their opponents. In my area each party pulled and tore down banners of the other party, thus littering the environment,” says Safeer Hussain from Shah Khalid Colony. “The election seems to have turned into a popularity contest based on candidates' public service profile and promises to tackle burning issues of the city to lure voters. It’s an altogether different story what the candidates plan to do should they ever win the election,” says Waris Ali, a Satellite Town resident. “Political billboards and banners erected all over the city show the parties’ intent to use a large chunk of their budget to spread their party program. Does that program include the betterment of my area? We are still awaiting domestic gas connections,” says Ikram Hussain, living in Fazal Town Phase-I. Muharram Ali from Chaklala Scheme-III says: “All posters just mention the candidate's name and political group, with only a few giving us an idea of what they stand for. If candidates can't even provide a hint of what their priorities are, why should I vote for them?” “How can you ever imagine Rawalpindi to be a clean city if we act imprudently? I was also once involved in electioneering, but I never did anything like this going around pasting posters on neighbours’ walls,” says Aif Alvi, from Sadiqabad. “The city has been disfigured with posters of contestants in elections. I don’t know whether the law forbids this or not but I feel disappointed at the helplessness of the law against politically-backed elements. No vacant space has been spared by the civic ruffians and the scars and the disfigurement will remain for a long time, more or less till the next election,” says Mohib Hussain from Saddar. “If politicians and political workers are not mindful of the fact that they have made the city ugly, it is a sad reflection of their poor civic awareness. Can we expect from them to bridge the gap existing between the rulers and the common man,” adds Mohib. “Hundreds of posters have been pasted everywhere, not just in and around the city and but also at prominent road intersections,” says Nidia Ali, an interior designer from Chitti Hattian. “In some cases, campaign posters have been placed over directional signs as well as road safety information. Made of inferior paper products, regrettably, these posters often fall off on the ground and as a result carried away to the sewer where they further pollute waters,” adds Nadia.
