Hand in hand: New mayor seeks Rangers’ help

“I will go to the JI, ANP and PPP to take them onboard in my mission," says Waseem Akhtar

KARACHI: Talking to the media after being elected mayor of Karachi and a day after being charge-sheeted in the May 12 riots case, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) incarcerated leader congratulated people of the city for reposing their confidence with the MQM during an “unprecedented difficult phase.”

“I also congratulate the chief minister [Murad Ali Shah] who is the custodian of the third-tier of the government,” said the MQM leader, adding that he hoped Shah will give more powers to the elected representatives.

The progress of the country and the province corresponds to the progress of Karachi, said the newly-elected mayor, adding that to move forward all political parties needed to work together.

“I am not the mayor of the MQM. I am the mayor of this city. This is the philosophy with which I will work,” claimed Akhtar.

“I will go to the Jamaat-e-Islmai, Awami National Party and Pakistan Peoples Party to take them onboard in my mission. If we continue to fight the city will not progress,” he said further. Talking about the city’s security situation, Akhtar requested the Rangers DG Major-General Bilal Akbar to work together, saying the MQM respects the soldiers’ sacrifices in maintaining law and order. “I need guidance from Rangers DG and Sindh IG. We want to eliminate those bent upon tarnishing the peace of this city.”

With regards to the ongoing controversy about his party, Akhtar said the MQM wanted to follow the guidelines given by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. “We can never talk against the sovereignty of this country,” he explained.

Regarding the cases he is implicated in at present, the mayor-elect said they all are politically motivated cases. “I am political prisoner,” he said. He denied the charges leveled against him for his involvement in the May 12, 2007 riots and questioned why the cases were not even touched upon for the past nine years. He dared the authorities to try former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf over the riots.

Concluding his speech, he called on the chief minister to make some rules which allow him to run the mayor’s office from inside the prison and get in touch with the public to solve their issues. Akhtar was brought from the central jail to the City Council in an armoured vehicle to cast his vote and was taken back the same way.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2016.