KARACHI: Due to worries on number of issues, including most recent Local Government elections in Sindh, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan decided to throw ball in masses’ court.

Addressing press conference, MQM-P convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said, “We knocked all doors, now it was time for masses to pour onto streets.” Speaking on LG polls, Siddiqui said there was no example of recently held LG polls in history”. Speaking of census, Siddiqui said that census were conducted seven years ago was also made unfair, adding that population of migrants was not shown even 25 percent. Meanwhile, Mustafa Kamal also expressed his reservations over LG polls and blamed PPP for rigging. Kamal said, “If there is need of hour for staging protest, we were ready.” Wasim Akthar also lambasted PPP, saying “PPP will not get votes from urban areas’, because of its role after 1971.”

 Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan said that Karachi mayor is not being chosen from peoples’ mandate but by political bargaining. Khalid Maqbool said that way recent LG elections were conducted, “MQM-P defeated conspiracy of electoral fraud by withdrawing from LG elections.”

“Feudal system is threatened by our struggle and we refuse to recognise it. MQM-P has decided to struggle for people’s rights and for that it has chosen path of demonstrations.” Dr Siddiqui said, “We also filed petitions regarding electoral tampering in Sukkur and Mirpur”. “Conspiracy is hatched to show number of people less by census and they tried to present transformed demography of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur in census”.

“Census was proved wrong many times and those who carried that out were punished but census was not corrected.” He said rigging had been underway for last 50 years in voter lists and delimitations, reiterating “If our case was strong, Supreme Court could have taken suo motu notice”.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 23 2023

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