Soliciting votes from people of Karachi: Saeed Ghani says PPP will not use coercive means

KARACHI: Sindh Planning and Development Minister Saeed Ghani has said that Pakistan People’s Party in the forthcoming general elections will not use coercive means to solicit votes from the people of Karachi, which were exercised by the Muttahida Quami Movement during the last 30 years.

Saeed Ghani, who is also the president of PPP Karachi Division, stated this on Sunday while speaking at a reception hosted by District Central chapter of PPP in Karachi.

“People’s Party will not sew gunny bags for anyone as PPP is here to get people of the city rid of those who indulged in bloodshed,” said the PPP Karachi president while referring to the era when gunny bags stuffed with dead bodies of rival political activists were commonly and frequently found in the city.

“We will not let fear raise its head in Karachi as there is a need to connect the people of the city with the Federation. They didn’t get anything during the last 30 years except destruction. We will not follow the path, which was being followed for the last 30 years,” he said.

He said that candidates of PPP, after being elected into power, would raise voice to get the rights for the people of Karachi. “I owe to people of Karachi more than anything else. It is my wish that there will be 40 people like Saeed Ghani in the assembly for the people of the city,” said the provincial minister who won a by-election on a Sindh Assembly constituency in Karachi PS-114 in July last year.

“It is my request to the people of Karachi to get rid of MQM and hold the hand of People’s Party and they should also bury the chapter of politics of bloodshed in the upcoming elections,” he said.

The provincial minister said that District Central was once considered as the bastion of support of MQM in Karachi but the party had gravely violated the trust of people.

He said that a review had to be conducted to determine the reasons owing to which Karachi’s progress had been halted despite that the city had more potential than Lahore and Islamabad to provide opportunities to people to get jobs or to do business. He said that causes behind injustices and excesses against the people of the city should also be determined.

He said that Karachi was once an attractive tourist destination for people from all over the country but it was the MQM, which had made a difference in the situation of Karachi, making it far worse as compared to the rest of the country.