It is hard for a common man to comprehend how delimitation would reduce crime in Karachi. If appeasing a disgruntled political party is the purpose, would a new delimitation not displease their antagonists? Would the assorted mafias that exist be hindered if a voter’s constituency is changed? Would drawing an imaginary line, bisecting Lyari or Lines Area to change voting patterns, affect target killers? Or does it mean that since nothing else seems to be working, there is no harm in trying this?
Even harder to understand is the demand for delimitation without its pre-requisites. Delimitation is an act of dividing a given number of voters in different constituencies, to equalise and facilitate the election process. How can anyone (mathematicians and magicians included) divide a number, without knowing the number? It is not surprising that framers of the constitution, therefore, envisaged a census before any delimitation. Indeed a census also determines the number of seats to be allocated to a particular region so those demanding delimitation without a census also want to keep the number of seats unchanged. However, some ostensible leaders think otherwise. In our country we do the impossible at once, though miracles take a bit longer, we carried out the delimitation anyway without giving the consequences much thought.
AFTAB BUKHARI,
Karachi, May 16.