Parting of ways: JI accepts resignation of Mohammad Hussain Mehanti
Party’s former Karachi chief says he left his post because of the performance in elections .
“Mehanti felt that he could have performed his responsibility better than what he did during the elections,” said another party official who did not want to be named. PHOTO: SANA
KARACHI:
Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Syed Munawar Hasan has accepted resignations tendered by the party’s Karachi leadership, including that of JI Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mehanti.
The resignations were voluntarily submitted to the party’s central executive council, following the general elections held across the country on May 11. Those who resigned along with Mehanti, who had been the Karachi chief for the last two terms, included Raja Arif Sultan, Birjees Ahmed, Dr Wasay Shakir, Farooq Naimatullah and Osama Razi.
The officials, however, will remain members of the party.
Mehanti while talking to The Express Tribune said that he was completely in agreement with the policies of the party and had no differences with its leaders. “I was a member of JI, I still am, and will remain to be till my last breath,” he said, adding that the resignation was his gesture of accepting responsibility and preserving the democratic traditions within the JI.
Earlier after the elections, the JI had also formed a committee, headed by its central secretary general, Liaquat Baloch, to probe into the party’s “unsatisfactory performance in the elections,” a party official privy to the matter told The Express Tribune.
On the day of the election, JI had announced to boycott the elections in Karachi against what Mehanti termed “hijacking of the electoral process by Muttahida Qaumi Movement with support of police, the Rangers and the election commission’s staff.”
The decision, however, had stirred a feeling of frustration among the activists and supporters of the party who expected to see their candidates in the national and provincial assembly after a gap of five years due to a blanket boycott of general elections by the party in February 2008.
“Mehanti felt that he could have performed his responsibility better than what he did during the elections,” said another party official who did not want to be named. “This was his personal feeling and he, thereafter, tendered his resignation voluntarily. The resignations of the lower leadership followed.”
Meanwhile, the JI central leadership had appointed its central deputy secretary general, Nizamuddin Memon, as the interim Karachi chief. Memon will remain at the position till the selection for new ‘Karachi ameer’ for a three-year term through elections which will be held next month.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2013.
Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Syed Munawar Hasan has accepted resignations tendered by the party’s Karachi leadership, including that of JI Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mehanti.
The resignations were voluntarily submitted to the party’s central executive council, following the general elections held across the country on May 11. Those who resigned along with Mehanti, who had been the Karachi chief for the last two terms, included Raja Arif Sultan, Birjees Ahmed, Dr Wasay Shakir, Farooq Naimatullah and Osama Razi.
The officials, however, will remain members of the party.
Mehanti while talking to The Express Tribune said that he was completely in agreement with the policies of the party and had no differences with its leaders. “I was a member of JI, I still am, and will remain to be till my last breath,” he said, adding that the resignation was his gesture of accepting responsibility and preserving the democratic traditions within the JI.
Earlier after the elections, the JI had also formed a committee, headed by its central secretary general, Liaquat Baloch, to probe into the party’s “unsatisfactory performance in the elections,” a party official privy to the matter told The Express Tribune.
On the day of the election, JI had announced to boycott the elections in Karachi against what Mehanti termed “hijacking of the electoral process by Muttahida Qaumi Movement with support of police, the Rangers and the election commission’s staff.”
The decision, however, had stirred a feeling of frustration among the activists and supporters of the party who expected to see their candidates in the national and provincial assembly after a gap of five years due to a blanket boycott of general elections by the party in February 2008.
“Mehanti felt that he could have performed his responsibility better than what he did during the elections,” said another party official who did not want to be named. “This was his personal feeling and he, thereafter, tendered his resignation voluntarily. The resignations of the lower leadership followed.”
Meanwhile, the JI central leadership had appointed its central deputy secretary general, Nizamuddin Memon, as the interim Karachi chief. Memon will remain at the position till the selection for new ‘Karachi ameer’ for a three-year term through elections which will be held next month.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2013.