KARACHI: Chief of the Karachi chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Hafiz Naeemur Rehman sees fears of a “defeat among leaders of the ruling party”, which have been “stoked up” by the results of a survey, behind the continuous delay in local government elections in the city.

While addressing a press conference, he said that Karachi and Karachiites are being neglected amid political uncertainty as the prevailing situation in the political arena is being discussed continuously on the digital media.

Referring to a recent survey in the city by Pulse Consultants, he said that political opinions in Karachi have been changing rapidly.

A majority of Karachiites want to see their next mayor to be from the JI, he said while quoting the results of the survey. Similarly, he said, the JI has emerged as the second most favourite party, with a slim margin from the top one, for the general elections.

Interestingly, Karachiites belonging to the other political parties also had expressed their confidence in the JI when it came to raising a voice for the city or getting the issues of the megalopolis resolved, he said. This showed that Karachiites had fully understood the strategies of various political parties.

He added that according to the results of the survey, broken roads, sewerage water and power crises were among the top problems of the city.

Talking about the PPP government in Sindh, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that the illegal administrator in the city had claimed to have allocated Rs15 billion for the patchwork in the city but it seems that hardly Rs1 billion will be spent. He added that apparently the corrupt regime was plundering as much as it can after realising that its days have been numbered.

The changed public opinion in the city and fear of further change in the political arena have shocked the ruling party. Either the ruling party, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) or the establishment or someone else was afraid of JI’s popularity. As a result, he said, the local government polls in the city are delayed at the 11th hour.

Unfortunately, the ECP has been showing a strange pattern of obedience to the Sindh government. He further said that all the quarters need to understand that the times have changed and no one would be able to resist against the public’s opinion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022