Reluctance to devolve: Upset over delay in LG process, MQM protests outside ECP office

Local body representatives term delay a 'serious setback for Karachi'

KARACHI: Local government (LG) representatives of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) staged a demonstration outside the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) Sindh office on Thursday to protest the delay in the LG process.

The protest follows Wednesday's joint press conference by MQM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in which party leaders criticised the notification to delay the transfer of powers to the local bodies in Sindh. The protesters shouted slogans of 'shame, shame’.

"This act by the ECP is a serious setback for the people of Karachi," said MQM's Arshad Vohra, who is the party's nominee for deputy mayor. Vohra questioned the 'real reason' behind this ECP notification to delay the oath-taking. "Those who are not in Karachi cannot feel its pain," he said.



Meanwhile, mayor-nominee Wasim Akhtar said the protest was being staged against the government, ECP and election commissioner.

The chief election commissioner has come under the pressure of the government and the notification was against the law, he said. "Such steps are being taken to prevent the implementation of Article 148 of the Constitution," he said.

Akhtar also questioned the authority of the chief election commissioner to declare 'null and void' a previous notification of a full commission, declaring that his party does not accept this notification. He urged the Supreme Court to take notice of this behaviour and suggested that the chief election commissioner be dismissed immediately.

Addressing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Akhtar said that he must also pay heed to this decision since they can harm his government.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2016.