JI stages protests against ‘rigging’ in Karachi LB elections
Jamaat-e-Islami women block the road outside the West District Registration Office on the call of their party chief to protest against alleged rigging in the Karachi local government elections. Photo: PPI
Demonstrations were staged in different parts of Sindh on Tuesday in protest against the "stealing of Jamaat-e-Islami's mandate and rigging" in the local bodies' elections in Karachi. The call for the province-wide protest was given by JI Ameer Sirajul Haq.
Demonstrations were staged in various cities of Sindh, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Thatta, Hala, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Mithi, Tando Adam, Nawab Shah, Sanjhuru, and Sanghar. A large number of JI workers and common people participated in these protests.
The protesters raised slogans against the "stealing of JI's mandate" and alleged tampering with the results of Karachi's LB elections. They demanded that JI's mandate should be accepted and correct elections results should be released as soon as possible. They warned that if their demands are not accepted, they will shut down the entire Sindh.
Addressing a sit-in outside Jacobabad Press Club, JI leader Hafiz Nasrullah Aziz said that the party ruling Sindh for last 15 years has brutally looted the resources of the province. "Wheat was stolen from warehouses and sold to blue-eyed flour millers, while flour was being sold to public at Rs.170 per kg," he alleged.
He said that Sindh is rich in natural wealth, including oil and coal, but its people have been suffering from hunger and misery. "Jamaat-e-Islami will never allow anyone to rob the people of Karachi," he said. "The PPP should accept JI's mandate or else there will be protests across Sindh."
In Larkana, a protest was held at Bagh Jinnah Chowk which was led by JI's Provincial General Secretary Kashif Saeed Sheikh. Addressing the participants, he said that the PPP government has robbed the people of Karachi in connivance with the Election Commission of Pakistan.
"They rigged the elections in Karachi so brazenly that it makes one realize how they would have stolen people's mandate in other cities of Sindh," he said. "The JI will not rest until it takes back its right. The PPP should accept JI's mandate or else prepare for sit-ins on important highways of the province."
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2023.