The Muttahida Qaumi Movement—Pakistan (MQM-P) announced on Sunday the decision to stage a sit-in against the local government (LG) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions of Sindh at Press Club Chowk from February 12.
MQM-P's Khalid Maqbool made the announcement and said the party would shift their Bahadurabad centre to Press Club Chowk next Sunday.
Addressing a workers meeting in Karachi, he said Pakistan is at a critical juncture but that there was no one to take decisions. He added that the economy will sink politics. "The time has come to fulfill the promise we made to our forefathers," he said.
The MQM-P chief announced that his party would not only contest the by-polls on the nine Karachi seats, but also win the seats. They were vacated after National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf accepted the resignations of all Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs in three different episodes.
Maqbool said that they had "given up" on the local body elections, and now they have to fight for their mandate. The MQM-P leader added that the results of the LG polls in Karachi showed who wants to win the polls at the expense of the people.
He instructed the workers to prepare for protests in the coming week, saying they would fight Karachi's case from February 12.
It is to be noted that the MQM-P boycotted the second phase of the local body elections in Sindh, expressing its reservations and concerns regarding delimitations, particularly in the two cities which are considered the MQM-P’s major vote banks.
The MQM-P leadership had rejoiced about the “low turnout” in polls, terming it “rigged” in the Karachi and Hyderabad divisions.
According to the results of the controversial polls, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led the charts, with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) trailing behind. The PPP secured 91 seats and JI 85 seats.
The PTI acquired 42 seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) seven, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) two, and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) one, according to the results. One seat was also secured by an independent candidate.