Hafiz Naeem rejects Karachi mayor results
Pakistan
Says PPP 'damaged' democracy
KARACHI (Dunya News) – Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, the Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi emir who lost mayoral elections to Pakistan People Party's (PPP) Murtaza Wahab, rejected the results on Thursday.
Addressing the media, he stated that with the PPP damaged the democracy with the help of Election Commission of Pakistan. He termed it the 'worst democratic day' in the history of Sindh and Pakistan.
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman claimed that the ECP played the role of the People's Party's B-team, and he would not accept this result. He demanded a corruption-free system and stated that 31 people were abducted and did not allow to take part in the polling, which he and his party would not accept.
Rehman declared that it was their right to peaceful public protest, and they would raise their voice for the democratic right to have a genuine mandate. Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi's chief said that they would not abandon the field. Instead, they would resist peacefully and take the matter to court if needed.
Hafiz Naeem emphasized that their fight was not against the People's Party but against 'robbery'. Though the PPP had been in power for 15 years, they had not delivered on their promises and couldn't fool the people of Karachi. He promised that they would do what the PPP was unable to do in 15 years. He considered it his right to protect every vote and expressed concerns over two women who were also missing, promising to pursue the matter.
Earlier, Murtaza Wahab bagged 173 votes while Naeemur Rehman could secure 161 votes, according to unofficial results. The election was held through a show of hands. The voting started at 11am at the arts council's auditorium.
Out of 366 members, 333 members were present at the polling venue while 33 members could not reach the polling venue to cast their vote. As the voting started, the doors of the auditorium were closed.
