Karachi: Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has assured that local elections will be held in Karachi on January 15.
The minister said this after Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) protesters marched towards the Chief Minister’s House in Karachi against the delay in local body elections once again. However, the JI protestors called off the protest after being assured of the election date.
Shah also assured the JI of devolution of powers to the local body system in Karachi. He announced that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership will also visit the headquarters of Noor Haq, JI Karachi in the near future.
Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi Ameer Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, however, made it clear to the PPP leadership through Shah that the provincial government must withdraw its letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and convene a session of the Sindh Assembly for legislation. Must be called. On the assurance given by the People’s Party to the JI regarding the transfer of powers to the local government.
Speaking on the occasion, the Local Government Minister gave several reasons for the previous delay in holding the elections, including security issues and floods. Nevertheless, he clarified that local body elections in Karachi will be held on January 15. He said that the People’s Party wants to hold the second phase of local body elections in the province as soon as possible.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had also announced that the local body elections will be held on the scheduled date. He claimed that the People’s Party government has also taken steps to empower the local bodies.
He also said that the People’s Party had promised to establish a provincial finance commission and it would fulfill its promise. In this regard, he said that a delegation of the People’s Party government will visit Noor Haq.
Later, they appealed to the JI leadership to call off their sit-in citing security concerns due to the presence of the New Zealand cricket team in the city.
Rahman was not too happy with the assurances from the Minister of Local Government, saying that the PPP was playing a “double standard”. He remarked that on the one hand, the People’s Party wrote several letters to the ECP to postpone the local body elections, on the other hand, it is trying to hide behind the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
He made it clear that Jamaat-e-Islami will not accept any further delay in local body elections as it will be a clear violation of the democratic right of the people of Karachi. Earlier, Rehman led a march from the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to the Chief Minister’s House to stage a sit-in against attempts to delay local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions.
The march started from KPC at 4 pm, but the police prevented the marchers from moving towards Deen Muhammad Wafai Road connecting Fawara Chowk with the Arts Council. Due to the protest, the flow of traffic on the surrounding roads was disrupted. Before leading the march, Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami chief while talking to the media said that some parties do not want local elections to be held on January 15.
Referring to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), he said that a party, when it was enjoying power with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, had given the census notification and now the same party is taking the same census. Calling it fake. He said that MQM does not want local elections.
He was of the view that all the other elections were held on time but when it came time for the local body polls, certain parties put up barriers and the crime rate in the city suddenly increased.
As the march began, JI workers started raising slogans demanding immediate local elections in the city. When the police stopped the protestors at Fawara Chowk near the Artillery Maidan police station, the protestors refused to disperse and staged a dharna in front of the police station.
Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami Deputy Secretary Abdul Razzaq Khan while addressing the sit-in criticized the Sindh government for depriving Karachi of its legitimate rights. He asserted that Jamaat-e-Islami will force the provincial government to hold elections in any case.
JI leaders also criticized the ECP. Party Deputy Chief for Karachi Dr Osama Razi said that historically whenever the time came for local body elections, ECP gave lame excuses for not holding the elections.
He said that the people of Karachi are not being given their rights in violation of Article 140A of the Constitution. He added that the entire city had turned into ruins because the Sindh government wanted to control Karachi.
Addressing the sit-in, Rehman Malik also lashed out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and said that 14 MNAs of PTI did not speak about the rights of Karachi. He alleged that the PTI government deliberately miscounted the people of Karachi in the last census.
He said that the feudal mentality has gripped the entire Sindh and the same elements want to maintain their dominance over Karachi. Rehman said that the MQMP wanted to postpone the local body elections on the pretext of wrong constituencies and census, but if it had left its interests aside, the problem could have been resolved.
He claimed that the people of Karachi have rejected MQM and PPP because they know that the only solution to their problems is to elect Jamaat-e-Islami. He said that Jamaat-e-Islami will hold Karachi Declaration Convention on January 8 at Bagh Jinnah, he appealed to the public to join the convention for the future of Karachi.
