Karachi The city chiefs of electoral allies for the upcoming local government election in Karachi, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), called on the Provincial Election Commissioner (PEC) Tanveer Zaki on Thursday and presented him with a joint statement demanding stringent measures to ensure transparency on December 5. Engineer Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman of the JI and Syed Ali Zaidi of PTI apprised Zaki of their concerns and suggested that Rangers be deployed in and outside polling booths on December 5. Talking to the media outside the office of Sindh Election Commission after the meeting, Hafiz Naeem said both parties had shared their concerns to the authority responsible for conducting a free and fair election. He said they fulfilled their legal and ethical responsibility by presenting Zaki with a statement listing their concerns for the local bodies election. Hafiz Naeem said the situation of Karachi cannot be changed without holding transparent elections. He claimed people had been robbed of their rights by rigged elections in the past. However, he lamented that the parties had sought lists of polling booths and the Sindh Election Commission had failed to provide it to them. As far as campaigning for the election was concerned, he said, Naeem said the allies will organise a historic rally on November 28, Saturday, in which the central leaderships of both parties will participate. The Karachi organiser for PTI, Ali Zaidi, lamented that three letters had been written to the Sindh Election Commissioner but none of them had received a response so far. He said mandate of the people will be destroyed if the local government election was not transparent.
