QUETTA, June 13: The City Nazim of Karachi, Niamatullah Khan, has declared that the next local bodies’ polls would in fact be a contest between Altaf Hussain and Niamatullah. He said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was losing its popularity among the people, as it had done nothing for them even though remaining in many governments.
Mr Niamat was speaking to journalists at a press conference at the MPA hostel in Quetta on Monday before leaving for Karachi.
He alleged that the MQM leadership was responsible for creating law and order problems in Karachi through terrorist acts.
Speaking about the Karachi city government’s achievements, he said his city government had been successful in resolving most of the problems of Karachi pertaining to potable water, transportation, and health care, besides establishing many colleges and schools, and roads in a short period of four years.
He asserted that the city government’s main achievement was resolution of the katchi abadis’ ownership problem, saying the residents of katchi abadis were now able to get land on lease at the price rates of 1988 i.e. between Rs25 and Rs200 per sq-yd instead of rates of 1999, which ranged from Rs400 to Rs5,000.
Mr Niamat also claimed that President Musharraf’s Rs29 billion Tameer-i-Karachi package was due to his concerted efforts alone, adding that that the federal, provincial and city governments besides the Karachi Port Trust and the PIA would be contributing their shares to the package.
The city nazim alleged that Altaf Hussain’s supporters were on one hand engaged in intra-party strives and with other MQM factions while on the other hand it was involved in the killing of two Jamaat-i-Islami leaders in Karachi a few days back.
He said MQM birth’s was with the blessing of Gen Ziaul Haq.
He stated they had faced the MQM even when it was at its peak, enjoying the support of the Mohajirs (Urdu speaking population), and they would continue to face them in the future as well.
The Karachi city nazim said the MQM was losing the trust of the Mohajirs and was just deceiving the latter by exploiting their sentiments.
He was confident that the MQM would face its worst defeat in the coming local bodies’ polls in two months time, adding that the real contest this time would be among the supporters of Altaf Hussain and those of Niamatullah Khan.
Replying to a question, Mr Niamat said that after bitter experiences of the MQM’s politics of hatred, the relations of the Mohajirs had now at last homogenized with the Punjabis, Sindhis, Pakhtoons and other communities.
