10 Shia organisations now supporting MQM in NA-246

Karachi
Ten Shia organisations announced on Monday that they were supporting the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the upcoming NA-246 by-polls on April 23 and appealed to community members to vote for its candidate, Kunwar Naveed Jamil.
Allama Zohair Abbas Abidi, Allama ather Mashadi, Allama Syed Ali Karar Naqvi and other Shia religious leaders made the announcement at a press conference at the Khursheed Begum Hall.
The 10 organisations include the Tanzeem-e-Azadari Pakistan, the Tanzeem-e-Aza Pakistan, the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqah-e-Jafaria, the Shia Federation, the
Jafaria Alliance, the Anjuman-e-Zakireen-e-Imamia, the Anjuman-e-Zakireen-e-Muhammad-o-Aale-e-Muhammad, the Idara-e-Deen-o-Danish al Muhammad, the Pakistan Shia Council and the Idara-e-Talbighat-e-Islami.
Zohair Abbas Abidi told reporters that Shia organisations in the city had supported the MQM in previous elections and they had again gathered to support the party in the upcoming by-polls.
He added that no other party had been able to match the MQM’s performance in terms of welfare work and raising voice for the oppressed.
“The MQM has played a role in uniting Muslims, especially by foiling conspiracies to divide them on a sectarian basis,” he said. “Those supporting the Taliban and Daish are not from among us.”
He appealed to the Shia community to vote for the MQM so that terrorist forces could be eliminated from the city.

AML leader joins MQM
Mehfooz Yar Khan, an Awami Muslim League leader independently contesting the NA-246 by-polls, has announced that he was joining the MQM and withdrawing his candidature.
Three days before the NA 246 by-elections, Khan made the announcement at a press conference at the Khursheed Begum Hall in the presence MQM candidate for NA-246, Kunwar Naveed Jamil.
Khan said nobody would be allowed to “steal” the vote bank of the MQM which was the only true representative party of Karachi.
He also warned that those involved in playing dirty politics and conspiring against the city’s most popular party should stop if they wanted to avert a dangerous outcome.
Interestingly, AML founder and chief Sheikh Rasheed had supported Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan throughout the latter’s anti-government protest campaign.
Jamil welcomed Mehfooz’s inclusion in the MQM. He said many independent candidates were turning towards the MQM as they were reluctant to support a party that was a “stranger” in the city.