Rigging allegations echo is KMC City Council session

The City Council session of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) met on Thursday amid protests from members belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

As soon as the session started, JI member Qazi Sadruddin was not allowed to talk after which his party members started sloganeering in the council hall and shouting ‘Qabza Mayor Namanzoor’.

Meanwhile the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) members shouted slogans commemorating the late party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The session was presided over by Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab. Karachi Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad also participated in the council meeting, in which a total of four resolutions were approved and one was deferred till the next meeting.

The JI’s parliamentary leader Saifuddin Advicate said the council session was ruined because of the mayor. He asked Wahab to hand over the proceedings to the deputy mayor if he was unable to run the council.

He alleged rigging in the country's elections stating that in Karachi, a party was given the mandate that could not win even a single seat. “Our agencies have empowered a terrorist group,” he said, adding that the mayor should also be concerned about this.

He also mentioned the current turmoil in Balochistan. “Who will provide justice to Pakistan? If the mandate is not respected, the country can break,” the JI leader said. He maintained that the Election Commission of Pakistan and establishment were not doing good with the people of the country.

The council unanimously passed resolutions for awarding a medal with cash reward to those who had rendered significant services for Karachi, renovation of the KMC parks and installation of solar systems, and tribute to the services of former member of Sindh Assembly Abdullah Murad.

A resolution was passed by a majority vote to approve the collection of tax/fee on animals brought for sale in all cattle markets held in Karachi on the occasion of Eidul Azha 2024, while a resolution about the KMC hospitals’ up-gradation under the public-private partnership was deferred till the next meeting of the council.

The mayor announced on the occasion that before the next sitting of the council, a meeting would be held with representatives of all parties to decide the future course of action and accordingly more resolutions would be presented in the meeting.

At the beginning of the session, the decision of the Supreme Court on the presidential reference regarding the trial of Bhutto was hailed as a victory of justice.

PPP members Najmi Alam, Mumtaz Tanuli, Juman Durwan, Parliamentary Leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Saifuddin Advocate, Qazi Sadruddin, PTI Member Muhammad Mubasher, Asad Aman and Parliamentary Leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Feroze Khan and others expressed their views on the SC decision.

Saifuddin said that it was a good omen that the judiciary had corrected its mistake to some extent. He added that Murtaza Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto should also get justice. The mayor said that if some people had stood with the truth and justice in 1977, the decision against Bhutto would never have come. Wahab said International Women's Day should be celebrated not only on one day but every day. He also announced the allocation of a common room for women in the KMC head office.