No room for ethnic politics in Karachi, says Naeem

Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said that there is no room for ethnic-based politics in Karachi as citizens have already rejected the divide-and-rule policy that pitted Mohajirs against Sindhis.

The JI leader expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the Idara Noor-e-Haq — the Karachi JI headquarters — on Saturday morning.

He said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had taken positions against each other against the backdrop of the approaching general elections as a mock exercise.

He said the JI had become the only hope for the people of Karachi. He added that the politics of hatred on the basis of divide between the Muhajirs and Sindhis had already been rejected in the prevailing age of social media. All the parties responsible for the prevailing situation in Karachi would be avenged in the general elections, Rehman said.

He demanded that the authorities appoint the returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the judiciary of other provinces as free and fair elections would be a myth if they were influenced by ROs and DROs who were loyal to feudal lords.

He also remarked that free and fair elections could not be possible in the presence of political governors and flawed voter lists.

Talking about the local issues, the JI leader asked the Karachi mayor why 1,967 union committee (UC) employees had not been paid salaries for the past three months.

He demanded that the chief justice of Pakistan intervene and provide justice to those UCs employees.

The JI leader was of the view that the people of Karachi would reject those political parties in the general elections on February 8, 2024, that did not express solidarity with Hamas and positioned themselves against Israel.

How much activism the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz or the PPP showed for Palestine, he asked.

JI leaders Munim Zaffar, Qazi Saddaruddin, Zahid Askari and Sohaib Ahmed were also present during the press conference.