KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has repeated his demand for the deployment of army personnel in each polling station on Dec 5, the day polling in the third phase of local government elections will be held in Karachi.

Calling upon Karachiites to come out from their homes without any fear and threat, he called the JI and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf alliance “a ray of hope for a bright future of Karachi”.

These views were expressed by Mr Haq at a press conference on Wednesday at its party office Idara Noor-i-Haq along with Karachi PTI president Syed Ali Zaidi and other alliance leaders including Imran Ismail, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Hafiz Naeemur Rahman, Ameerul Azeem, Dr Osama Razi, Abdul Wahab and Zahid Askari.

Moreover, they demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan take other political parties on board when appointing polling staff to ensure the transparency of the election process.

Highlighting the importance of polling, Mr Haq said the election was the only way of bringing about any change as it would restore peace and prosperity.

He, however, pointed out there were many reservations over the upcoming LG elections as voters’ lists were fictitious and the apex court had also questioned their transparency. “But we are participating in the elections as people are keen for a change,” he said and appealed to the public to come out of their homes on polling day in large numbers so that their desire for change was realised.

Mr claimed that the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had reached an understanding to cover up their crimes and corruption by providing a free hand to the MQM, “but we expect the ECP and the army to play their due role and disallow the repeat of rigging as it happened in the 2013 polls,” he added.

Responding to a question, PTI leader Zaidi said his party had not fielded any candidate in UC-14 Korangi. To another query, he replied that they did not have any alliance with any other party in the city except with the JI.

“Those who say they have the first claim to the city, I ask them what have they done during the past 30 years for the people of Karachi. These stakeholders were responsible for destroying the city as a result it has lagged behind in development.

“We will put the city on the road to progress and prosperity once again. There will be a new beginning of a new Pakistan which will start from Karachi and the next mayor of Karachi would be from our alliance,” he claimed.

JI leader Hafiz Naeemur Rahman said their rally on Saturday (Nov 28) would herald peace and prosperity for the city. “The Dec 5 elections will be a turning point as we will bring about a change with public support. Karachi has not kept pace and the upcoming local government elections would pave the way for going forward.”

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015