NA-246 by-polls: JI asks Karachi to break free from fear to vote

Holds rally in MQM stronghold in a show of political muscle

KARACHI:

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) displayed its might on Sunday by organising a public meeting in Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) stronghold, emerging as a major contender for the NA-246 by-elections scheduled for April 23.

Led by JI chief Sirajul Haq, a large number of party supporters participated in the rally, where another by-poll contender – the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – is also set to hold a gathering on April 19.

“I want to tell MQM chief Altaf Hussain – and I’m sure he is listening to me live on TV – how the times have changed,” Haq said amid vociferous slogans of ‘Go, Altaf Go’. “The time of G3 [rifles] is over; we are now living in the age of 3G.”



The JI chief lamented that Karachi, which was once known as the ‘City of Lights’, is now recognised for the likes of Ajmal Pahari, Asim Mota and Saulat Mirza.

“This is the MQM’s achievement during the past three decades; and today every citizen who had trusted this party earlier is aware of this fact.”

For this reason, added Haq, the NA-246 by-election is “between JI candidate Rashid Nasim and Ajmal Pahari et al”.

He advised the MQM chief to withdraw his candidate from the race to save his party from “further humiliation”.

The JI chief said he was confident the people of Karachi want to “break free from the reign of terror and fear and they will come out in large numbers on election day to defeat the terrorists with the power of their vote”.

“I know Karachiites are fed up with selection on the pretext of election and want the rule of law instead of the rule of MQM’s unit and sector in-charges.”

Talking about Nabeel Gabol’s decision to quit MQM and re-join the Pakistan Peoples Party, Haq said: “It must be disconcerting for the Election Commission of Pakistan as well as the security agencies, under whose aegis the 2013 general elections took place, that Gabol has suddenly awoken to tell the tales of his ‘selection’ from this very constituency that houses the MQM headquarters.”

Addressing the rally earlier, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said his party has its roots as well as a track record of development and social welfare in the constituency.

“We do not build castles in the air,” he said in an apparent reference to PTI. “We have been living in these very localities and neighbourhoods while braving the MQM for the past three decades.”

He said: “The reprehensible culture of extortion, targeted killings and gunny bags has snatched away the true culture of Karachi, one of tolerance, diversity as well as ethnic and religious harmony.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2015.