Candidates for NA-246 present their case in ‘Great Debate’

KARACHI: Candidates for Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Isalmi (JI) came face to face in Geo News show “Great Debate” to present their agenda for the upcoming by-election in NA-246 constituency of the city.

The by-polls are scheduled for April 23 (Thursday). The National Assembly seat fell vacant following resignation of Nabil Gabol earlier in February. Gabol was elected from the Azizabad constituency in the 2013 general elections on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) ticket.

Speaking on the occasion, JI’s Rashid Naseem said that apparently NA-246 was just an ordinary constituency of the National Assembly but was in the spot light for being considered as a game changer in the broader perspective.

He said that Karachi has been bleeding for the last 28 years and vowed to restore peace in the port city.

Imran Ismail of PTI said that all three parties would not gain too much by winning this one NA constituency. However, he added that the April 23 by-poll can eradicate the politics of fear and violence from the city.

Ismail further said, “So called owners of Karachi have failed to provide its citizens anything but extortion and deprivation”.

MQM’s Kanwar Naveed, on his turn, claimed that the federal and provincial governments avoid owning Karachi. He added that he will try to turn it into a developed and peaceful metropolis.