The mayor is finally kicking

Party workers welcome Wasim Akhtar amid slogans of ‘Zinda Hai Muhajir’ as he steps out of jail

KARACHI: Donning black pants and a dark blue shirt, a smiling mayor stepped out of jail as party workers and supporters showered flowers on him amid slogans such as ‘Zinda Hai Muhajir [Long Live Muhajir]’.

On Wednesday, Karachi Mayor and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Wasim Akhtar obtained bail in the last of the 39 cases registered against him, which secured his release from jail. A jubilant crowd of MQM workers had gathered outside the Karachi Central Jail to welcome the mayor of the city.



Akhtar was elected as the mayor of Karachi in December last year. On July 19 this year, Akhtar, along with his party colleague Rauf Siddiqui, former colleague and Pak Sarzameen Party leader Anis Kaimkhani and Pakistan Peoples Party’s Abdul Qadir Patel, was taken into custody in the terrorism facilitation case against former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain.

On August 25, for the first time, a mayor of the city contested the election from within the confines of the jail when he was brought from the central jail all the way to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) building in an armoured vehicle to cast his vote. Then, on August 30, he was again transported to the Bagh-i-Quaid-i-Azam from the central jail to take oath along with his deputy mayor, Arshad Vohra. However, despite several appeals from the MQM leaders to the Sindh government to allow him to visit the Quaid’s mausoleum to offer Fateha after taking the oath, he was transported back to the central jail. In Akhtar’s absence, Vohra was the acting mayor of the city and also conducted two sessions of the KMC’s City Council.

When released on Wednesday, Akhtar went straight to the Quaid’s mausoleum with a rally along with the senior leadership of the MQM, including Farooq Sattar, Faisal Subzwari, Sindh assembly Opposition Leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan and Amir Khan.



Speaking to the media outside the Quaid’s mausoleum, Akhtar said that it was his wish to pay homage to the Quaid-i-Azam after taking oath on August 30, but he wasn’t allowed to do so. He pledged to serve the city and restore peace in it with whatever resources are available to him. He said that the third tier of the government is actually part of the provincial government, which is why he asked the Sindh government to transfer the powers to the local government.

Akhtar’s wife, Naila Wasim, also spoke to the media. She talked about how Akhtar’s imprisonment was a tough time for their family who knew that an innocent man was being punished. She thanked each individual who helped them in this tough time.

Standing on a truck in front of the Quaid’s mausoleum and flanked by Sattar and Subzwari, Hassan asked the charged crowd not to sleep tonight as the city’s mayor is out now.

Young party comrades performed to the tunes of MQM songs while several female party workers distributed sweets wrapped in fancy paper.

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