MQM-P, ANP, JUI-F celebrate Senate wins as ‘victory of democracy’

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, the Awami National Party and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl have congratulated their candidates who won Wednesday’s Senate polls and termed their wins “a victory of democracy”.

In a statement, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan has congratulated the party’s two candidates -- Faisal Sabzwari and Khalia Ateeb -- on winning the Senate polls for general and technocrat seats respectively from the Sindh province.

Sabzwari is the party’s central leader and served as a provincial minister, while Ateeb is a senior member of the party. She took part in the general election in PS-87 (District Malir). MQM-P convener and MNA Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that the success of both the nominees in the Senate elections was a testament to the fact that the MQM-P had become stronger and more powerful over time.

“In the upcoming elections, particularly the local government polls, the MQM-P will perform better due to the unity of the people and its discipline,” he said.

Siddiqui hoped that both the elected senators would fight their case vigorously while representing the people in the upper house of the parliament. The Awami National Party’s Sindh chapter has also felicitated the party’s two candidates on winning the Senate polls from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

Haji Hidayatullah and Arab Umar Farooq Kasi have been elected senators from KP and Balochistan on general seats. In a statement, ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed said the wins of the ANP and other component parties of the opposition were the beginning of a new democratic era in the country.

“Despite all the negative maneuvers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government, the victory of Yousuf Raza Gilani, the unanimous candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, on the Islamabad seat of Senate is a great achievement of the opposition alliance,” he said.

The ANP leader said that Gilani’s victory proved that the current government did not have a simple majority in the parliament and now Imran Khan should resign from premiership on ethical grounds.

Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl’s central spokesperson Aslam Ghouri felicitated senior leaders, including central secretary general Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidari, KP chief Maulana Ataur Rehman and senior leader Kamran Murtaza, on winning the Senate polls from Balochistan and KP.

In a statement, Ghouri said that the victory of the PDM candidates, particularly Gilani, in the Senate elections was a vote of no confidence in Imran Khan. “The PTI has lost its fake mandate and now Imran Khan should resign from the post of prime minister,” he said. He alleged that the PTI had promoted the politics of money in the Senate polls. “The PTI had to buy its own people to save its existence in the parliament.”