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| November 25, 2005 | Friday | Shawwal 22, 1426 |
MMA to boycott by-election
KARACHI, Nov 24: Muttahida Qaumi Movement candidate for Sindh Assembly’s PS-106 seat, Khalid Bin Wilayat, returned unopposed on Thursday after rival candidates Arbab Ali Khan and Syed Athar Zaidi withdrew from the contest. The seat had fallen vacant after the election of Kanwar Khalid Jamil as the City Nazim of Hyderabad in the recently-held local government elections. The polling is scheduled for Dec 10.
The other two seats, PS-117 and PS-120, were declared vacant by the Election Commission when Syed Mustafa Kamal of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement resigned after his election as Karachi City Nazim and Ali Bin Hamid, also of the MQM, died.
The MQM on Thursday announced the names of its official candidates for the two seats. They are Dr Saghir Ahmad for PS-117 and Nishat Muhammad Zia for PS-120.
On Thursday, the last date for withdrawal, Fayyaz Ahmad and Ms. Razia Sultana withdrew their papers from PS-117, leaving four candidates in the fray.
PPI ADDS: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal announced on Thursday that it would boycott the by-election for the three provincial assembly seats in protest against riggings in recent local bodies elections, occupation of polling stations and incidents of terrorism during the May 12, 2004, by-election in Karachi.
Addressing a press conference at Jamat-i-Islami’s Karachi office, Idara Noor-e-Haq, MMA Karachi president Hafiz Muhammad Taqi said MMA believed in democracy and election process but the attitude of the government over the past two years compelled it to boycott the by-election for the three PA constituencies.
JI Karachi Amir Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui, Secretary JI Karachi Shaikh Rafique Ahmed, Allama Nazir Taqvi and Qazi Ahmed Noorani were present on the occasion.
Hafiz Taqi said the MMA had nominated its candidates for the three constituencies, but keeping in view the attitude of the government, especially its conduct in the recent local bodies elections, it decided to boycott the by-election and asked its candidates to withdraw their nomination papers. He said the government had left no way out for the opposition except to boycott the elections. He said the rejection of nomination papers of a candidate of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) strengthened its decision.
He alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan was not independent and there was no forum where appeals could be filed and heard impartially.
Dr Merajul Huda condemned the manhandling of a Karachi University professor by activists of an ethnic political organization.
The MMA leaders demanded arrests of culprits involved in violence against teachers of the university and intermediate colleges and asked the government to stop patronizing terrorists in educational institutions.
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