countries.”
He alleged that the MQM had held the entire city hostage for the past 26 years and had encroached upon public land, amenity plots, parks and playgrounds where it had set up party offices.
Haq said the services of Jamat-e-Islami leadership were not concealed from anyone, referring to a network of education centres, medical institutions, roads and other infrastructure laid during the tenure of former city nazim Naimatullah Khan Advocate.
He welcomed the Chinese president to Pakistan and said the country had risen above in a short span of time due to an honest and corruption-free leadership, despite being bridled with a massive population and other economic issues.
“Pakistan can also progress if it follows in the footsteps of the Chinese and eliminates corrupt practices from the country,” he added.
JI holds rally
Later on Monday evening the party organised a rally which emerged from its election camp at Naseerabad. It went towards Waterpump Chowrangi from where it took a U-turn to go to Karimabad before finally circling back to the party’s camp at Naseerabad.
During his address to supporters and potential voters, JI chief Siraj-ul-Haq made a few very pointed jibes against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and its chief Altaf Hussain.
He said everyone knew who had turned Ajmal Siddiqui into Ajmal Pahari and who was responsible behind ruining the life of Saulat Mirza. “Altaf Hussain keeps apologising from the establishment but he should also explain what he apologises for,” he said. “Does he apologise for killing 286 workers in Baldia, or the carnage on May 12 or the murder of Imran Farooq or burning lawyers alive?”
He said Karachi was no one’s personal territory and everyone had equal rights over it.
He said the by-election will bring to the fore the true wishes of the people and whom they wanted to be represented by.
“The battle isn’t between races or ethnicities, it is between the oppressor and the suppressed,” he said. “The power of vote will decide the fate of this battle.”