JI against holding LG polls on Oct 23 due to Pak-India match

JI leader says local body polls should be held on October 16

KARACHI:

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief, Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has demanded of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to swap the dates and hold local government elections on October 16 and by-elections after October 23.

According to a statement issued by an ECP spokesperson, the by-polls would take place on October 16 and the local body polls would take place on October 23 as scheduled by the ECP.

The JI leader during a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq on Friday said local body polls should be held on October 16 and not on October 23 because of a cricket match between Pakistan and India, scheduled for October 23.

It will be difficult to mobilise people for the local government elections in Hyderabad and Karachi divisions during Pakistan-India match.

He said that the political atmosphere of the country was passing through uncertainty and turbulence due to audio and video leaks.

The JI leader said that the PPP's experiment to place a political administrator in the city ahead of local bodies polls has failed miserably.

He also shed light on street crimes in Karachi and said that scores of people are mugged every day in the city but no solid measures are seen by the police, rangers and law enforcement agencies to bring the menace to an end.

JI leader made it clear that the JI does support ethnic division but stands by merit.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2022.