Karachi and Hyderabad are delayed by Sindh. Again, LG polls

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led provincial government in Sindh ordered the postponement of local body (LB) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad and canceled the notification about additional constituencies following a late-night meeting of the Sindh cabinet.

Sharjeel Inam Memon, the Sindh Information Minister, told reporters in the early hours of Friday in Karachi that the remaining districts in Sindh will hold local elections on January 15 as scheduled.

The minister stated that although the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) did have concerns regarding delimitations, the decision was made after the Sindh cabinet meeting and was not based on “protest or threat of anyone.”

As an ally of the ruling PPP, Memon insisted that the MQM-issued P’s will be addressed at the national level. Furthermore, he mentioned the province’s security issues.

Later, the Sindh government also requested in a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), a copy of which is on file with The Express Tribune, that the LB elections in Dadu district be postponed.

According to the letter, a sizable portion of the district is still underwater as a result of the post-flood situation.

The letter stated that holding LG elections would deny a significant portion of society their constitutional right to vote.

MQM

Just hours earlier, Dr. Farooq Sattar, the founder of the MQM Organization Restoration Committee, and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal declared they were burying the hatchet and joined the MQM-P to “jointly raise voice for the rights of the people of urban regions of Sindh.”

Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui had issued a warning that they would not permit the local government elections to take place on January 15 if the issue of delimitations was not resolved during a press conference where the leaders announced the reunion of the MQM-P.

The PPP-led Sindh government and the ECP in Karachi both staged delimitations. The MQM-P rejected and criticized the delimitations as unfair. The delimitations were done by the PPP-led Sindh government and the ECP in Karachi.

JI will protest in front of ECP.

In response to the Sindh government’s declaration that the province’s LG elections will be postponed. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi has declared that it will hold a sit-in. The sit-in will be held outside the ECP today at 3 PM.

JI leader Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman criticized the declaration of the Sindh government. Hafiz Naeem said that the polls were postponed out of concern for the will of the people. He made these statements while addressing an urgent press conference at the Noor-ul-Haq Institute in Karachi.

He continued by saying that the populace had been denied their democratic and political rights.

Remember that the second round of LG elections is scheduled for July 24, 2022 across 16 districts of Sindh.

However, due to the lack of security and police presence. The Sindh administration excused itself from holding the elections. This lack of security was caused by the floods that devastated the country, particularly Sindh.

The LG elections were rescheduled to August 28, but were not held on that date. Instead, the date was changed to October 23, but the voting was delayed on that day as well.

Earlier this month, the ECP decided to hold local government elections in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Thatta on the scheduled date of January 15.