With mayor in jail: City Council holds maiden session

Passes unanimous resolution against Altaf Hussain

KARACHI: While the Sindh government failed to produce the jailed mayor of the city, Wasim Akhtar, the City Council of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), in its first session, adopted a unanimous resolution calling for his release immediately.

In the absence of the mayor, the council session was presided over by the deputy mayor, Arshad Vohra. A Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) member of the City Council, Riffat Khan Advocate, presented a resolution, demanding the immediate release of Akhtar. She said that at the time of taking oath, Akhtar had announced that he is not the mayor of any political party but of the city. Hence, the council demands the Sindh government to release their mayor.

However, one of the members objected that the council cannot pressurise the judiciary to release the mayor without completing legal procedures. Another member asked to pass the resolution to allow producing the mayor in every session of the City Council. Due to these objections, Vohra, acting as speaker in the session, added in the resolution the demand to complete all the legal procedures as soon as possible for the release of the mayor.

After a gap of more than six years, the City Council held its first session on Wednesday at the old KMC building almost one-and-a-half hours later than the given time. On February 26, 2010, this council was dissolved and the last session of the council was held on February 15, 2010.

Another resolution presented by Jamaat-e-Islami's (JI) Junaid Mukati against MQM founder Altaf Hussain's speech against Pakistan and attack on media houses in the city, which was endorsed by MQM's whip, Javed Advocate, was unanimously passed. In the resolution, it was demanded that any hate speech should be condemned and the speaker of such speech should be taken to task.

Later, a member of the MQM in the council, demanded to include the names of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and all those who had spoken against Pakistan in the resolution. However, Vohra responded that such a resolution can be presented with other names in the next session. Unlike the provincial and national assemblies, Karachi's City Council hall was crammed by its members, trying hard to accommodate themselves on the wooden sofas. The media gallery, which was teeming with reporters, was at the top left side of the council, where there was hardly any space to sit.

The KMC, instead of constructing a new building for the City Council as promised, has renovated the old City Council hall to accommodate around 320 members - out which 305 were present - after the local government (LG) elections were held last year on December 5.

Production problem

The session was supposed to start at 3pm, but was delayed due to the confusion over production order of Akhtar. In cases of sessions of the national and provincial assemblies, the speakers of the respective houses issue the production orders of imprisoned lawmakers. However, in the city council's case, an unprecedented situation has arisen as the mayor is the speaker of the house as well.

KMC's municipal commissioner, Badar Jameel, wrote a letter to the Karachi Central Jail's superintendent to produce Akhtar for the session on Tuesday. Also, the Anti-Terrorism Court I's judge, Bashir Ahmed Khoso, issued a ruling in which he said that the court has no jurisdiction to issue order for production of applicant or accused to participate in the session of KMC. However, the ruling added that the court has no objection if Akhtar is produced to the session.

According to Jameel, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has the power to issue the production order. At around 4:30pm, when no such orders were issued by the Sindh government, Vohra kicked off the session.

Kashmir resolution  

Another resolution against the tension on borders and Indian army's barbarism in Kashmir was unanimously adopted in the council. The resolution was presented by the chairman of UC-14, Nawaz Khan.

The next session of the City Council will be on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2016.