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City Pakistani community braces for elections

By David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | dfreedlander@am-ny.com

February 18, 2008

Pakistanis in Midwood, Brooklyn anticipate the upcoming elections for Pakistani's Prime Minister. With recent turmoil including the assassination of former Pakistani Prim Minister Benazir Bhutto the elections will surely elicit an emotional response from all sides following the outcome. (RJ Mickelson / February 17, 2008)

In Midwood, the heart of the city's 100,000-strong Pakistani community, faces in Halal restaurants, barber shops, and pharmacies were grimly turned to satellite televisions previewing Monday's parliamentary elections.

The news out of Pakistan has been uniformly bad for months now, since even before former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination in December. And few in the Brooklyn neighborhood were counting on the election results to bring much in the way of good news.

"It will be a pre-poll rigging, I promise you that," said Tauqir Nisa, 44, who moved to Brooklyn eight years ago. "[President Pervez] Musharaff's approval rating is almost zero. He will go to any extent to legitimize himself. The U.S. supports him, but he wants to solve every issue through abusive power."

Anti-Musharaff sentiment ran high in this tree-lined enclave deep inside Brooklyn, a place where signs are written in Urdu and stores close in the afternoon so shopkeepers can attend mosque.

Opinion was divided, though, on who was best positioned to replace the current president should he lose enough support in the parliament.

"Nobody around here likes Musharraf, they all want him to leave," said Hashim Choudry, 59. "The people here are with Bhutto's party."

But others said that they -- and everyone in the neighborhood that they knew -- support the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, or more marginal groups like the Movement for Justice Party, which is led by the cricketeer-turned-opposition leader Imran Kahn.

Mostly, residents expressed dismay as events in their home country seemed to get worse by the day. A string of deadly attacks at political rallies culminated yesterday in a suicide bombing outside an election office for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, which killed 46 people.

"It is very unstable there right now," said Syed Sayid, 46, whose family still lives in Karachi. "I do not think they will go to vote. The polling sites are too unsafe."

The events half a world away inevitably produced comparisons to the presidential campaign sizzling at home.

"In Pakistan, it is much different," said Nargis Tariq, 43, standing in a shop decorated with rows and rows of brightly colored and bejeweled Shalwar Kemeez, as the traditional dress is known.

She said she was supporting Sharif in Pakistan, and McCain in America, but not that it mattered much.

"Back there, when I tell my sister, my children, my friends to vote for someone, they will listen, because I am the eldest. Here, everyone if free to do whatever they like."

Q&A to today's parliamentary elections in Pakistan.

What parties are involved in the elections? The Pakistan People's Party, once led by slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, is in the lead, according to public opinion polling. The Pakistan Muslim League-N, the party of another former premier, Nawaz Sharif, is in second with President Pervez Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Q trailing badly in third.

How would the elections affect the power structure of the country?
A coalition formed by the two anti-Musharraf parties would seek to reinstate judges the president has ousted. If they secure a two-thirds majority in the parliament, they may move to impeach Musharraf, who was re-elected as president in October.

How many seats are up for grabs?
Candidates are vying for 272 of the 342 seats - or about 80 percent of parliament.

How many people are expected? who can vote?
About half of the 160 million people in Pakistan are expected to vote, although many have expressed concerns their votes won't count if the election is fixed.

What is the United States doing to ensure that the election is not rigged?
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other senators will observe the polling in Lahore. Biden has said the United States should cut off military aid to Pakistan if the elections aren't free and fair.

What security measures is Pakistan taking to curb violence and rioting?
After more than 40 people died Saturday in a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan, 500,000 security personnel were deployed to prevent attacks throughout the country.

- Emily Ngo