PTI succeeds in wooing ex-Qayyumabad chairman into its fold

As part of its ongoing preparations for the local government polls and wooing electables at the union committee level into the party’s fold, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Karachi chapter on Sunday announced that former Qayyumabad UC chairman Shamshad Tanoli has joined the party.

Addressing a press conference at the Insaf House, the PTI secretariat, Shamshad with a number of local social activists, including former general councillor Ibrar Tanoli, announced their decision to join the PTI.

The PTI Karachi president, MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman, secretary general and MPA Saeed Afridi, local MNA Fahim Khan and party leader Subhan Ali Sahil were also present on the occasion.

Shamshad was elected the UC chairman of Qayyumabad of District Korangi in 2015 on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan' s (MQM-P) ticket. In the 2005 local government elections, he was elected the naib nazim on the MQM’s ticket.

The PTI leaders said that similar to the 2018 general elections, their party would also emerge victorious in the upcoming local government polls. “Karachi’s residents have shown confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party and the Karachi mayor will be from the PTI,” Zaman said.

He added that Shamshad’s decision to join the PTI was proof of confidence of people in the leadership of the PM and his policies. Afridi said that political opponents of the PTI had become frightened due to a large number of people joining the PTI before the local government polls.

“The Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government has completely ignored Karachi and its residents but the federal government has given priority to the metropolis and the recent announcement of a development package of Rs.1.1 trillion by Prime Minister Imran Khan is evidence of it,” he said.

Local analysts believe that because of Shamshad’s personal clout in the area, his joining the PTI would help the party win in the neighbourhood in the upcoming local government elections. Qayyumabad is a populous neighbourhood of the city where most of the residents belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hazara division.