JI gets PTI’s unconditional support for mayoral election

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Karachi chapter has announced their unconditional support for Jamaat-e-Islami city chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman for the mayoral election. However, some of the PTI’s local government representatives have been keeping in touch with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The PTI Karachi spokesperson has accused the PPP of pre-poll rigging, claiming that the elected LG representatives are being kidnapped by the Sindh police because the province’s ruling party wants to elect their mayor promptly.

He said the PTI’s LG representatives are being abducted before taking the oath, adding that the party has approached the court on this matter. However, he claimed, the PPP has made their way to the mayoral election through the backdoor.

According to the unofficial results, out of the 240 of the 246 union committee seats in Karachi, the PPP has won 98 in the LG polls, the JI 87, the PTI 43, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz seven, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl three, and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and an independent candidate one each.

The issue of the results of six UC seats is pending in court. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification, the oath-taking of the elected members would be held on May 22.

Two quit PTI

Salman Qureshi, a councillor elected from UC-9’s Ward 4 in Saddar Town, announced leaving the PTI while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday. He said he was elected on the PTI’s ticket. According to the party’s manifesto, he was supposed to serve the people.

However, he said, after the events of May 9, he did not feel good. “My heart is very sad, and I resign from the PTI. The Pakistan Army is our life. Long live the Pakistan Army!”

Qureshi said he wants to remain an independent candidate now. “I also announce my resignation from the post of the PTI and the general councillor seat,” he added. He also announced that PTI President Town UC-9 General Secretary Saif Ali Qureshi has also left the party.

‘Accept numbers’

After the PTI’s announcement of unconditional support for Rehman, the JI has asked the PPP to accept the numbers and refrain from creating hurdles, advising the ruling party to instead contribute to the development and progress of the city.

He expressed these views while addressing a press conference held at the JI city headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq after the PTI’s announcement of supporting the JI in the mayoral elections.

The JI leader said that after the recent development, the numbers for the JI’s mayor have reached 191, while the PPP and their coalition partners have only 145 to 147 votes, including all the reserved seats.

With the PTI’s announcement, the situation has now become clear, he said, adding that the JI would continue to chase and unmask the PPP if the party once again decides to bring shame upon themselves by setting up a marketplace for conscience to be bought and sold. Rehman said the JI has the courage and decency to take all the stakeholders onboard for the city’s progress and development, and for the sake of the city’s future generations. He said that despite political differences, the JI would cooperate with all political quarters in the city’s interests.

He claimed that the PTI’s elected chairmen and vice chairmen in Karachi are being forced to switch loyalties amid a massive crackdown, spiced with political revenge, against the party.

He said that a large number of UC chairmen and vice chairmen of the PTI have gone underground to avoid arrest and victimisation. He added that local PPP leaders have been visiting the PTI’s arrested UC chairmen and vice chairmen, offering them to either vote for the PPP or get ready to rot in jail.

He said the JI has already written to the ECP, seeking a little delay in the next phase of forming the local government because all the leadership of the PTI’s Karachi chapter are either under arrest or in hiding to avoid arrest and political revenge.

He added that the ECP and other state institutions need to play their due role in this regard so as to avoid further political chaos, and uphold the supremacy of the constitution.

He also said the PPP has employed undemocratic and fascist tactics in the recent past to become the largest party in the city despite being on the third position according to the number of votes cast, so the time has come to shun the practice.

Rehman also condemned the suicide bomb attack on the JI Pakistan chief Sirajul Haq in Balochistan’s Zhob district. He demanded that the government arrest and unmask the culprits, no matter who they are.