receiving our organisational leadership’s decision,” said Ali Hussain Naqvi, an MWM leader.
Political analysts believe that with the MWM’s support, the PTI can easily fetch votes from the Shia community in the constituency. “Although the MWM is comparatively a new Shia party, it has emerged as a popular group across the country because of its bold stance over the killing of community members,” said a Shia political leader.
However, several other Shia groups, including the Jafaria Alliance, the Tahafuz Azadari Council and the Tehreek Nifaz Fiqah Jafaria, are supporting the MQM candidate. The Ahle Hadith Rabita Council too is backing the MQM.
Shia activists believe that the JI has never received votes from the Shia community in the past elections and it is highly unlikely that it will do so in the upcoming by-polls.
“The community has traditionally supported the MQM in the city in the past polls but after the emergence of the MWM, the Shia vote bank of the MQM has cut down,” the Shia leader said.
The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, a Deobandi group, has not announced that it would support any specific political party. But party insiders say it will support the JI in the by-polls. “The ASWJ has a strong support base among the Deobandi community in the constituency and no party looking for a victory in NA-246 can succeed without our support,” said Umer Ma’awia, the ASWJ spokesperson in Karachi.
Analysts say that the Deobandi vote bank plays a vital role in the constituency where the Madani Mosque, the headquarters of Tableeghi Jamaat, is located. However, the Tableeghi Jamaat remains apolitical and impartial.
Munir Ahmed Farooqi, a Karachi-based journalist who has extensively covered religious parties, believes that the support of sectarian parties and groups matters in the city’s electoral politics.
“Although the support of mainstream religious parties in the elections is very important, political parties have also started giving importance to neighbourhood- and street-level religious organisations that mainly organise events such as Eid Miladul Nabi and Muharram processions,” he added.