By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has announced that it will be holding a sit-in at Fawara Chowk near the Karachi Press Club here from February 12 against what it believed a foul play in the local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad.
The announcement came during a general workers’ meeting in Karachi. Convenor MQM-P Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that they would shift their Bahadurabad centre to Press Club Chowk next Sunday. He asked the workers to prepare for the sit-in, saying, “We will fight Karachi’s case from February 12.”
The MQM-P leader said that Pakistan is at a crucial point but there is no one to take decisions. He added that the economy would sink politics, adding that the time has come to fulfill the promises the country made to its forefathers.
Siddiqui also announced that his party would contest the upcoming by-polls on the nine Karachi seats up for grab adding it will win all those seats. He said that they had withdrawn from the LB elections but now they will have to fight for it.
MQM-P boycotted LG polls
MQM-P had announced a boycott of the 2nd phase of the local bodies elections held in seven districts of Sindh including Karachi and Hyderabad divisions Just hours before voters were ready for the polls.
The party’s statement came after it demanded fresh delimitation before holding the LB elections and despite the Sindh government’s announcement to delay the polls, the ECP insisted that they would go ahead — on January 15 — without further interruption.
The second round of the local government elections was scheduled to be held on July 24 in 2022 but the Sindh government excused itself from holding the polls over lack of security and police availability due to the floods. Later, the elections were also postponed on August 28 and October 23. Finally, after much ado, the polls took place on January 15.
With the MQM-P’s boycott, the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) managed to win majority seats. According to the results, the PPP won 91 seats and JI secured 85 seats. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf acquired 42, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz seven, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal two, and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan one seat. One seat was secured by an independent candidate.
