PPP can’t get rid of LG polls: Engineer Hagiz Naeemur Rehman

KARACHI, Oct 23 (SABAH): Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Chief Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in Sindh would not be able to get rid of the local government elections as Karachi and the JI are associated with each other and ground realities reflect that the city’s development is linked to the JI’s government in local bodies.

Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman expressed these views while addressing a convention of JI’s candidates for the upcoming local government polls held in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal area on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion he said that the PPP regime in the province deferred the local government polls under influence of a fear that the JI would clean sweep in the local bodies’ elections. He continued that the JI, subjected to the will of Allah Almighty, would form a city government in Karachi no matter how long the elections are delayed. He also vowed to put Karachi again on the journey of progress and development — a journey discontinued after the culmination of Nematullah Khan’s tenure. He said that the JI was intended to establish an Information Technology Park and an IT University in the city subjected to its victory in the local government. He added that if elected in the local bodies, the JI would also establish state of the art model schools, offering quality education to students, belonging to any class in the society.

Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman made it clear that the JI’s candidate for mayor, if elected, would not hide behind the pretext of administrative and monetary powers, instead the mayor would get the powers back for the local government institution. On the occasion, he recalled that the JI had held a 29-day long successful sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly building for the due rights of the city mayor office.  

Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman also shed light on the discriminative policies of the PPP government in Sindh and vowed to change the direction of policies if the JI is elected in the city government. He also recalled the era of mayor Abdul Sattar Afghani and Naimatullah Khan and paid a rich tribute to both the JI leaders for their contribution and dedication for Karachi and Karachiites and for the legacy the left for the party members. JI leaders Shahid Hashmi, Dr. Fawad, Engineer Azizuddin and others also addressed the convention.