JUP undecided about by-polls support

LAHORE
Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP) Noorani group secretary general Shah Awais Noorani has said that his party is yet to take any decision about supporting any candidate in by-elections in NA-246, Karachi, though the party leadership has been in contact with all parties contesting the elections.
He was talking to journalists informally at a gathering here Saturday. JUP president Pir Ijaz Hashmi, Punjab president Qari Zawwar Bahadur, Punjab secretary general Dr Javed Akhtar and information secretary Rasheed Rizvi were also present.
Shah Awais Noorani said the issue of supporting any candidate in NA-246 would be discussed by the JUP executive council meeting on Sunday (Today) and would be announced on Monday (tomorrow). He said the situation in NA-246 was enigmatic and no prediction could be made regarding the outcome of the polls. He lamented that the MQM had again taken full advantage of the half-hearted operation cleanup against its workers and headquarters, and was again portraying itself as a victim and playing the long-dumped Muhajir card in the elections. He said the Muhajir card had become an obsolete slogan for the last two decades but resurfaced in the wake of an operation by rangers.
Shah Awais avoided replying to a query about whether the JUP would once again extend electoral support to former allies in the defunct religion alliance Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA), the Jamaat Islami. He said the JI and the PTI had hurled a tough challenge to their prospective allies in the by-polls as both the parties had not themselves decided whichone of them should contest against the MQM. He said both were political allies in KPK but contesting against each other in Karachi and their predicament could be seen from their half-hearted criticism of each other.
He could not precisely say if obstinacy of both JI and PTI for contesting the by polls would favour the rivals MQM by dividing anti-MQM votes. He said people of Karachi from all walks of life and belonging to all political and ethnic groups were unanimous in their deep desire to see the long lost peace of the city return where they could do their businesses and other activities without any fear for their lives and properties. He said the desire would figure the most in the results of the polls.