Karachi
Following the Sindh High Court’s ruling declaring the ‘Show of hands’ procedure to elect local bodies’ representatives on reserved seats null and void, on a petition filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League – Functional (PML-F), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday blamed the MQM for trying to ‘occupy’ district municipal committees through horse-trading.
In a statement issued by the PPP’s media cell, the party’s provincial general secretary Senator Taj Haider, the party claimed the PPP had eliminated the menace of horse-trading through the 14th constitutional amendment but the MQM, by challenging the amendments made in the Sindh Local Government Act - which pertained to electing chairmen and vice chairmen through ‘Show of hands’- had brought the culture back.
Disapproving of the court’s judgment, Senator Haider said, “If the amendment was illegal, what would then be made of the elections of Prime Minister and Chief Ministers done through this very method?”
He said democracy could only be strengthened in the country if all political parties inculcated democratic principles within their own parties. “It was the PPP that had despite serious opposition helped the MQM free itself from the clutches of the establishment, and brought it back in mainstream politics.”
