PML-N throws weight behind PPP
The PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami on Saturday constituted a joint committee to tally Form-11s and “get back what was stolen in rigging” during the second phase of the Sindh local government elections.
“The committee will comprise of four members, two each from both the parties,” PTI leader Ali Haider Zaidi said in a press conference alongside JI’s Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman.
Zaidi claimed that there were almost 40 union councils where PTI’s “mandate was stolen”. “We have all the Form 11s […] PTI and JI have been communicating since before the elections and we have decided that we will sit together with Form 11s [in our hands],” he said.
Meanwhile, JI’s Rehman said that the joint committee will “exchange notes and Form 11s” during the process.
“Jamaat-e-Islami has presented itself [in the elections] and of course, it has a position currently to hopefully appoint our mayor,” he said.
Thanking Zaidi and his team for “accepting [and] welcoming” JI’s mandate, Rehman said, “We have agreed that we will help each other for the protection of our individual mandates.”
He went on to say that both JI and PTI had decided to reach a consensus for the city’s betterment despite the existing “political confrontation and difference of opinions”.
Hinting at a possible coalition between both political entities for bringing a mayor in Karachi, Rehman said “JI can play its role and is ready to serve the city with a mayor [appointed though consensus] if the PTI is up for it.”
“We [PTI and JI] share a working relationship despite all the unwelcoming statements made in the past.” The JI chief requested the PTI to “help” his party so that “the 35 million residents of Karachi can take a sigh of relief”.
Here, Zaidi responded that the final decision would be made after consulting other senior leaders of the party.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-N on Saturday announced to lend its fullest support to Pakistan People’s Party. PML-N Sindh President Shah Muhammad Shah made the announcement during a press conference in Karachi alongside Sindh Minister for Labour and Human Resources Saeed Ghani.
During the meeting, both sides decided to work together as allied parties in Sindh, just like in the centre, and cooperate with each other not just for the upcoming mayoral election but also for all upcoming by-elections and the next general polls in the province.
Talking to journalists after the meeting, Ghani said that every successful political party had the desire to clinch the Karachi mayoral position.
“But as per the moral principle, the single largest party has the first claim on this post,” he added.
He reiterated the stance of his party that the PPP had emerged as the single largest political party after local government polls in Karachi.
He said the PPP had the desire to take along Jamaat-e-Islami as the people of Karachi had also reposed confidence in the JI. “We need to work together to serve the residents of Karachi in the best possible manner,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to the PML-N for offering support to the PPP for the upcoming election for mayor of the city. Ghani hoped that the PPP would get support from other political parties as well for the mayoral poll.
For his part, the PML-N Sindh president said that both parties had agreed to work together for the development and progress of Karachi.
He said that both parties had agreed to nominate the candidate for Karachi’s mayor on a meritorious basis. He hoped that rest all the stakeholders would also provide support in this regard.
He mentioned that PML-N and PPP had jointly contested the latest local government elections in a number of union committees in the city as this alliance would continue in the upcoming by-elections and general polls in the province.
