KARACHI: Hafiz Naeemur Rehman the chief of Jamaat-i-Islami’s Karachi chapter on Monday said they would move the court and demanded formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to ascertain why the union council chairmen belonging to the PTI remained absent on the day election was for the port city’s mayor.
Representatives from all the spy agencies should be made part of the JIT to determine how these elected members went missing during the process, said Rehman told media and accused the PPP and the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) of having a nexus.
Describing the election of PPP’s Murtaza Wahab as Karachi mayor a robbery committed against the city’s mandate and totally fake, he said the process was exposed the reality of PPP and ECP.
The JI’s local head said they would also stage a “massive protest” outside the ECP office in Islamabad, adding that the top electoral body would have to declare the election invalid and rectify all the mistakes.
Rehman said the failure to hold fair and free local government polls in Karachi was just a trailer and questioned how the body would be able to hold elections across the country. “This was just a trailer; the entire film is yet to be unveiled.”
“How can we trust this institution to hold unbiased elections? If the ECP works as a facilitator for parties, how will democracy flourish in Pakistan?”
Last week, Wahab was elected Karachi mayor by defeating Rehman while Salman Abdullah, also of PPP, grabbed the deputy mayor’s slot. Wahab bagged 173 votes while Rehman could secure 161 votes only. Out of 366 members, 333 members were present at the polling venue while 33 members could not reach the polling venue to cast their vote.
The results triggered a clash between the PPP and JI supporters, as rival political workers, armed with clubs and sticks, pelted each other with stones and created chaos. Police and Rangers sprang into action and dispersed the mob by mounting baton-charge while also arresting some of the troublemakers.
