KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has announced to hold protest sit-in outside the Sindh Chief Minister House today (Thursday) as the PPP government in Sindh failed to meet 24-hour deadline of JI to withdraw the letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan, seeking further delay in the Jan 15 local government polls.
The JI leader announced the sit-in a press conference. He held the Pakistan People Party and the MQM responsible for the miseries of Karachiites and civic socio-political problems in Karachi.
The MQM was hands in gloves with the PPP when their coalition government had curtailed the powers of the local government setup in Karachi, he said. The JI leader recalled that it was again the MQM in collaboration with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to notify the flawed census results.
He further said that the PPP and the MQM exploited Karachi in all possible ways. The megacity has been ruined as no political party ever owned it except for the JI.
Now the city needs elected mayor, elected chairmen, vice-chairmen, and councillors in Union Councils to resolve its burning issues on grassroots level, he said.
Talking about the reported merger of various factions of the MQM, he said that it won’t create any difference in the political arena as evident by polls in the megacity that all political actors have exposed themselves before Karachiites.
On the occasion, the JI leader said the PPP and the MQM want to get the local government elections further postponed because both of them are afraid of the JI’s popularity among Karachiites.
He further said that the future of both the PPP and MQM in Karachi was bleak because the two parties always enjoyed the rule, benefits and perks but never delivered to Karachiites.
The JI will announce its future course of action at the protest outside the Chief Minister House, he said.
Later, in the day, a delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui visited the JI Karachi office to invite the party to the MQM’s Jan 9 protest for delimitations.
On the occasion, the JI leader welcomed the delegation but reiterated his stance over the local bodies’ elections, flawed voter lists and delimitations.
He said that corrections of flawed voter lists and delimitations are necessary. He said it was also a basic demand of the JI but continuation of democratic process is above all.
He said that an elected mayor and local government setup was a due right of Karachiites and the citizens could not be deprived of it on the basis that their other rights have also been violated.
The MQM delegation was also unable to respond to the question about the future of its coalition with the government if the government doesn’t respond positively to the MQM demand on delimitations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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