Shortly after reports of Barrister Murtaza Wahab winning the Karachi mayor elections surfaced, clashes between JI and PPP supporters were reported outside the city’s Arts Council of Pakistan where voting had been under way on Thursday.
According to unofficial results reported by a Dawn.com correspondent, Wahab won the election for the seat of the mayor by acquiring 173 votes while JI’s Naeemur Rehman remained the runner-up.
A result is yet to be officially announced.
However, immediately after unofficial results were reported, scuffles erupted between JI and PPP workers. Footage run on DawnNewsTV showed huge crowds of supporters pelting stones at security personnel blocking projectiles with their riot shields.
South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com that some JI supporters started raising slogans against their rivals which resulted in a clash between both parties and a “law and order situation”.
The official said the police attempted to control the situation by charging batons against enraged supporters. “During this, two to three JI members were injured.”
SSP Raza added that currently, a “peaceful sit-in” at the Arts Council Roundabout by the JI workers was under way.
PPP celebrates ‘win’
The PPP’s Media Cell quoted party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari congratulating all mayors, deputy mayors, district councillors and “town’s chairman and deputy chairman”.
Especially conveying his felicitations to Wahab, the tweet quoted Zardari as saying, “The success of local elected representatives is the result of the workers’ hard work.” He also directed the victors to start their work from today.
Separately, in a statement issued by PPP’s Media Cell, Foreign Minister and PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulated Wahab.
He said PPP’s victory today did not just belong to the party but the entire country. “This success is the result of the long struggle and sacrifices of the jiyalas of Karachi.”
The statement quoted Bilawal as saying that the local government problems of every street, neighborhood, and area of Karachi would be “solved without discrimination”.
In an official statement, Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah also congratulated, saying, “Today, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s vision of a jiyala becoming a mayor has won.”
JI allowed peaceful protests, says PPP’s Memon
Talking to the media in Karachi, Sindh Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon termed the JI a “fascist party”. He said they were allowed to protest peacefully but warned of taking action if they took the law into their own hands.
“A fascist party like the Jamaat handed weapons to students,” he said.
Memon claimed the JI “wanted the PPP to get them votes from the PTI”. He asked, “If the PTI supporters are sitting at their homes [and] no one is voting [for them] then what can we do?”
The PPP leader asserted, “If the JI would do hooliganism, we will not let anyone take the law into their hands. They can hold peaceful protests within the law. If anyone does vandalism, then the law will come into action.”
Voting
Earlier, voting for the office of Karachi mayor and the deputy through a show of hands took place, with PPP’s Wahab and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman in a tough contest.
The polling process remained largely peaceful throughout the day. Entry to the venue was closed at 11am and members were not allowed to enter after that.
According to a Dawn.com correspondent, 32 out of the 62 PTI members failed to appear to cast their vote. Subsequently, the total number of UC members present was 333 out of 336.
Both Rehman and Wahab reached the polling venue amid huge crowds of supporters. JI supporters could be heard chanting “Hafiz, Hafiz” repeatedly as the JI candidate entered the Arts Council premises.
Speaking to reporters outside the voting venue, Wahab claimed his party had the required numbers to win the elections.
“Our numbers are complete. If Jamaat-i-Islami’s numbers are higher, will respect them,” Wahab — also the former Karachi administrator — said.
He added, “We will have to come out of allegations. We will have to work together on Karachi’s master plan.”
Meanwhile, three detained PTI leaders, including Firdous Shamim Naqvi, were brought to the Arts Council of Pakistan in armoured police vans.
The PTI also shared a video of Naqvi exiting the van.
As the polling began, PPP Senator Saeed Ghani claimed the PPP had a strength of 173 with the PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) supporting it.
In a tweet, he said, “All 173 members of the PPP, PML-N and JUI-F have entered the election hall.”
In a prior tweet, he claimed the JI had not gathered its members even once in a show of power.
He said, “The PPP gathered its members twice during the election campaign for mayor/deputy mayor. The members’ attendance on both occasions was 100 per cent.
“Hafiz Naeem could not gather his members at one location even once. Today’s result is clear,” he added.
Although the PPP lacked a simple majority, it had emerged as the single-largest party in the 366-strong City Council — the electoral college for mayor and deputy mayor — following the January 15 local government elections and subsequent allocation of reserved seats.
On the other hand, the JI Karachi chief had the support of the PTI, in return for which the former has offered the PTI the seat of deputy mayor.
However, not all was well yet for the JI-PTI coalition as cracks have surfaced within the PTI’s city chapter with a group of elected UC chairmen and vice chairmen announcing plans to not follow their party decision and to abstain from the voting process.
JI laments PTI detentions
With several PTI leaders being under arrest following the May 9 incidents, the JI has been claiming that the PPP was pressuring PTI City Council members by having police raid their houses, abducting them and lodging false cases against them.
On May 29, JI’s Rehman also filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) seeking directives for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure that City Council members be allowed to access polling places and cast votes of their free will.
He alleged that the ruling PPP had adopted all malpractices of rigging in the local government elections, including not only polling of bogus votes and causing harassment at polling stations but also tempering the results by pressuring the presiding and returning officers.
The JI chief further said that the ECP and the provincial election commissioner were not taking any action despite the fact that they were bound to arrange fair and free elections.
Subsequently, the SHC directed the provincial administration and police to ensure the production of some detained union committee (UC) chairmen and other elected representatives to enable them to cast their votes.
