JUI-F to block Karachi’s entry, exit points to protest ‘rigging’ in elections

Rejecting the results of the July 25 general polls, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Sindh chapter has decided to organise a protest and block the main entry and exit points of Karachi tomorrow (August 8) against the alleged rigging in the elections.

The JUI-F is part of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an electoral alliance of five religious parties, which took part in the general elections across the country. The party’s Sindh chapter in a provincial meeting rejected the result of the elections and decided that a protest would be launched against the alleged rigging.

Addressing the meeting, provincial secretary general Dr Rashid Mehmood Soomro that his party had rejected the rigged elections and would block all important roads on August 8 and organise a sit-in outside the Election Commission of Pakistan office in Karachi on Aug 9.

According to its strategy for Karachi, the party announced that its organisations in Malir, Korangi and Thatta districts would organise a sit-in at Ghaghar Pathak on August 8, blocking the National Highway for traffic, while members of the party in East and Central districts would organise a sit-in in Sohrab Goth, blocking the Super Highway.

Similarly, the party’s organisations in West and South districts would block Hub River Road. The next day, on August 9, the JUI-F will organise a sit-in outside the ECP office in Karachi.

Qari Muhammad Usman, the JUI-F deputy chief, said that the July 25 elections had set the worst precedent of rigging in the country. “Public mandate had been stolen while the administration and the election commission failed to conduct free and fair elections,” Usman, who was also a candidate for a provincial assembly seat in Karachi, told The News. He said that it was a conspiracy against the MMA to keep its candidate out of the assembly through rigging.