ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan chief Sirajul Haq has said that his party is ready to negotiate with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on bringing a new mayor to Karachi, saying JI’s mission is creation of peace, harmony, development and brotherhood for all.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the JI chief asked the leadership of the PPP, especially Sindh provincial leadership, “give our full mandate back, don’t try to test our patience as JI is ready to adopt every peaceful means to attain the objective”.

Haq hoped the PPP co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, will play the role to bring Karachi out of confusion. “I expect Asif Zardari will issue directions to the PPP Sindh chapter to accept the JI’s mandate.”

He said that JI will observe January 20 as Thanksgiving Day across the country and he will personally visit Karachi to thank the people of the financial capital of the country for trusting JI. The JI chief added that if the Sindh provincial government didn’t accept the mandate of JI as per form 11, his party has various options to deal with the situation including protests.

JI Emir Sirajul Haq has said the returning officers (ROs) were forced to change the results by the Sindh government in Karachi local bodies polls.

The rigging in Sunday’s election was conducted by the PPP’s government to prove the provincial ruling party as the leading party in the port city, he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday.

He said, the JI had been declared a winner in 94 union councils as per form 11 of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), but the election results were delayed for hours and then changed at the offices of the ROs.

“We want our mandate back,” he demanded, asserting the JI was ready to serve the people of Karachi. He said the JI was a peaceful party but it had many options to take back its mandate. “Don’t try to test our patience,” he said.

The JI chief said the victory of his party in Karachi was not unexpected. Whenever transparent elections were held in the port city, the people put confidence in the JI, he added, mentioning late Abdul Sattar Afghani and late Naimatullah Khan who had served as mayor Karachi and proved their brilliance.

Karachi, said Haq, was the financial jugular vein of the country and it had long been experiencing instability. He said the JI would return peace and prosperity in the biggest city and fulfil the expectations of the Karachiites.

Haq said the PDM, the PPP, and the PTI added to the miseries of the masses, bringing political and economic crises. He said the PTI first announced that it would never return to assemblies, creating confusion and now when it decided to go back to the parliament, the speaker of the National Assembly accepted the resignations of the PTI members. Both sides, he said, were posing non-seriousness, unconcerned about the problems of the people. The JI, he said, condemned the attitude of the ruling parties.

He said the elections were the only way to bring the country out of prevailing crises. But, he added, the electoral reforms should be made before the polls as nobody will accept the results without reforms, creating further uncertainty and chaos.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023