The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Tuesday staged protest rallies in major cities of the country against, what it claimed, rigging in the second phase of the local government elections in Karachi held on Sunday (Jan 15).
The JI bagged 86 union councils and came in second after the PPP which won 93 UCs in the LG polls in Karachi.
Protest rallies and demonstrations were held in Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Multan and other cities on the appeal of JI chief Sirajul Haq. The JI workers and people from other walks of life participated in large numbers and raised slogans against the government.
Addressing a protest demonstration here on Tuesday, Siraj expressed his determination that the mayor of Karachi will be from his party, saying: “There is full evidence of rigging in some UCs in the LG elections, which is a conspiracy to block the way of JI.”
Provincial General Secretary Abdul Wasi, JI Peshawar amir Bahrullah Khan, General Secretary Hidayatullah, Provincial Information Secretary Syed Jamaat Ali Shah and others were present.
Siraj accused the PPP of stealing the public mandate.
“I want to make it clear that the JI is the biggest party in Karachi. Unless the ruling party of the province acknowledges this fact, our public mandate will not be restored.”
He ruled out talks with the PPP, but said all options for talks with other parties and independent candidates were open.
However, he said that the JI believed in dialogue, hoping that the PPP would accept the JI mandate. He thanked the people for their support.
The JI chief promised the people of Karachi that his party would bring peace, prosperity and development to the city. “The time has come for the extortionists to leave. God willing, the lights of Karachi will return.”
Syed Manawar Hasan, Professor Ghafoor, Abdul Sattar Afghani and Naimatullah Khan were great sons of the JI and Karachi. “The sacrifices of the martyrs have paid off.”
He said that there is clear evidence of rigging against Jamaat-e-Islami candidates in some seats.
He said the JI candidates were successful on the forms received from the polling stations, but later the election results were altered, vowing that the JI would not remain silent on ambushing its public mandate.
Protests will continue across the country, he said, adding that the whole of Pakistan would be jammed if they did not return “our mandate”.
“The JI has the ability to block the entire country … whenever we give a date, people will reach Islamabad,” he said, urging the workers to wait for the next announcement.
“Tactics like rigging have been adopted time and again in the past, now the people have woken up,” he said. “The JI has always demanded clean and transparent elections.”
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejected the results of LG elections in Sindh, accusing the PPP-led provincial government of rigging.
“The manner in which the elections were held, new precedents of rigging were set. We reject the election results and demand that an inquiry should be launched,” PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said while addressing the media in Lahore.
“Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and PPP’s Sindh government tried to keep voters away from elections by issuing security and bomb blast alerts,” he remarked.
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