Kamal gets support of Hafiz Saeed-backed party in NA-242

The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) announced on Tuesday its support for Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) senior deputy convener Syed Mustafa Kamal in the National Assembly constituency NA-242 (Karachi Keamari-I).

PMML candidate Abdul Waheed Abid has withdrawn his candidacy in favour of Kamal in the General Election 2024 scheduled to be held on February 8.

Speaking to a press conference along with Kamal, PMML vice president Faisal Nadeem said the MQM-P and his party’s viewpoint was the same on the progress of Karachi, and they agreed on the notion that those who destroyed Sindh should be obstructed. “We will support Kamal in the NA-242 and consultation with the MQM-P on seat adjustment in other constituencies in the city and the rest of the province is underway. The progress will be made public soon,” Nadeem said.

Earlier in the day, Kamal flanked by other MQM-P members, including the party’s liaison committee member Naik Muhammad, Sindh Assembly candidate Faheem Patni and Akram Awan, visited the PMML House for a meeting. On this occasion, Karachi PMML president Ahmed Nadeem Awan, Amjad Islam Amjad, Engineer Noman Ali, Abid and others were also present. During the presser, Kamal commented that the MQM-Pakistan-PMML partnership was not limited to one seat as both parties had played a similar role for the survival of this country; therefore, their relationship was based on a “strategic” foundation.

He said Pakistan was made on the basis of an ideology and both political parties were rendering their services for the country and the nation at their levels. He lamented that today Karachi was considered one of the worst cities in the world.

In an apparent reference to the MQM-P’s alleged failure to deliver to its voters, Kamal said, “We may have some vices, but we are trying to overcome them,” he said, adding that the Pakistan Peoples Party’s previous 15-year-rule overshadowed his party’s weaknesses.

He commented, “If I get a chance to rule for 15 years, I will get the PPP’s surety forfeited in their bastion, Larkana”.

Taking a jibe at the former Sindh ruling party, he said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari could not cite the example of Karachi in his election campaigning in Lahore, because his party had nothing to show out of their performance in three consecutive governments in the province.

Touching upon the violent history associated with the MQM, he said that the PPP should be asked the question for destroying the peace of Karachi, because his party had not even pelted a single stone at anyone in the city in the past seven years, since his party disavowed its founder Altaf Hussain in 2016.

According to political analyst Zia Ur Rehman, the PMML is said to be backed by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, head of proscribed organisation Jamaat ud Dawah (JuD). It was formed recently after the JuD’s political wing Milli Muslim League got banned.