Pakistan Peoples Party leaders have condemned the act of staffers of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to remove their party flags from electricity poles and other places in different parts of the city.
In a joint press statement issued on Friday, the PPP Karachi leaders said the unauthorised use of the staffers, official motor vehicles and machinery of the KMC for such political gains simply meant that Mayor Wasim Akhtar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan had been transgressing his official powers and authority.
They said the MQM during the past regimes had done nothing for the development and progress of Karachi and that was why its candidates had been facing a tough time in soliciting votes from people of the city for the upcoming general polls.
The MQM did nothing except pushing Karachi into deep anarchy through unabated violence, terrorism, oppression and hooliganism, the PPP leaders said.
They remarked that their opponent party in the past had caused extreme anguish and distress to the people of Karachi. They said the MQM only stood for victimising the people of Karachi by spreading violence in the city.
They said that the KMC during the past instances of fire and other civic emergencies in the city had never used snorkels and such specialised machinery, but instead they were now being put to use by the mayor illegally to further his political interests.
They warned that the MQM had to face the consequences of whatever grave mistakes it committed over the past several years.
They said the PPP would never ever accept the traditional politics of violence, intimidation and coercion earlier exercised by the MQM in Karachi.
The press statement, quoting PPP candidate for constituency PS-111 in Karachi Murtaza Wahab and President District East Chapter in Karachi Iqbal Sand, warned the MQM to desist from such unlawful tactics which could once again flare up political acrimony, polarisation and tension in the city.
In a separate statement, PPP Karachi President Saeed Ghani said that the people had been freed from the fear of the political mafia, which had earlier ruled the city. He said the MQM should fully realise that gone were the days when the people of Karachi were intimated by the violent elements associated with his opponent party. “It is high time the MQM people told the people of Karachi on what grounds different factions of their party have been sparring with each other,” he said.
The PPP leader said that the MQM could not secure an electoral victory or bring about any change in the results of the upcoming general elections in case all its factions were suddenly united.
Bilawal in London
It is learnt that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reached London to attend the marriage ceremony of a daughter of his aunt, Sanam Bhutto.
During his stay in London, the PPP chairman is expected to visit the hospital where the wife of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Kalsoom Nawaz, is under treatment to inquire after her health. He is expected to return to Pakistan in a few days.
