Sindh Labour and Human Resources Minister Saeed Ghani has urged Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman to accept the JI’s defeat in the local government elections in the city instead of allegedly hatching a conspiracy to promote politics of hatred and prejudice.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Ghani said that the public meeting held by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) the previous night to celebrate their victory in the LG polls in the city had upset the JI leader.
He said that the JI city chief had made up his mind before the LG polls that his party would win 200 seats for securing a comfortable majority required to have their own mayor elected.
He added that Rehman had perhaps forgotten that every contesting political party had to compete against other political parties in the polls for securing victory.
He also said that the JI did not have the allegedly undue facilities for contesting the LG polls in the city this time round that had been available to them in the previous elections.
Ghani, who is also the PPP’s Karachi president, said that other political parties had also suggested amending the provincial LG law to let an unelected member become mayor. He said that for this particular reason, the amendment bill had been passed unanimously in the provincial assembly, adding that even the JI’s lawmaker in the PA had not opposed the move.
The labour minister recalled that during different meetings the JI city chief had also presented the same demand for amending the LG law. He said that it was now undue on the part of Rehman to announce moving court against the latest amendment to the LG law.
He also said that the JI city chief has been trying to become another Altaf Hussain. He lamented that the latest statements of Rehman are based in hatred and bias. He expressed sorrow that the JI city chief had forgotten that the population census was being held in the country after six years instead of 10 years because of the efforts of the provincial chief minister.
He recalled that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had even threatened to leave the coalition federal government if their reservations on the population census were not addressed.
Ghani said that it was highly undue on the part of the JI city chief to blame the PPP for undercounting Karachi’s population in the census.
He told the media that Karachi belongs to him and other PPP leaders, including Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the late Benazir Bhutto, as much as to anyone else. He advised the JI city chief to thank God that his party had won 87 seats in the LG polls in the city. However, he pointed out, the party does not have the majority required for clinching the mayoral post.
‘Imran security threat’ Replying to a question, Ghani said that the incumbent chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) had completely disregarded the sanctity of his office while extending undue favours to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.
He lamented that after dividing the apex judiciary, the PTI chief had launched a new conspiracy to divide the armed forces. He said that it was undue on the part of the CJP to say that he was pleased to meet a person who was facing contempt-of-court charges.
He told the media that Khan had emerged as the biggest security threat to the country. He said the PTI chief had been acting upon the agenda of India’s ruling party, adding that Khan had done more harm to Pakistan than Taliban.