KARACHI: The city council’s single-day session on Thursday remained peaceful until the last minute when a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement triggered a hullaballoo by taking his London-based leader’s name that resulted in a competition among the rival parties to exchange slogans for their leaders.

It was the first KMC session which was presided over by Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, as he was behind bars when the inaugural session had been chaired by Karachi Deputy Mayor Arshad Vohra a couple of months ago.

The session began with pleasantries exchanged by the members of the rival parties and greetings by them for the mayor.

It all went well until Mohammad Farooq from Korangi stood on a point of order and said: “I welcome the MQM’s nominated mayor Waseem Akhtar in the city council and congratulate him on behalf of my party’s leader Altaf Hussain.”

His seemingly naive phrasing stunned the house in the beginning and then triggered the hullaballoo that continued for half an hour even after the session was deferred by the mayor till Jan 4, 2017.

A number of council members belonging to the MQM and the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party chanted slogans for their respective leaders Altaf Hussain and Asif Zardari. Many of them stood on their seats and kept chanting the slogans, but they refrained from levelling any allegations against each other.

Later, some MQM members escorted their comrade who had caused the clamour.

Earlier, PPP’s Karamullah Waqasi was unanimously elected as leader of the opposition.

The council approved a resolution asking the authorities to take measures for restoring cell phone and internet signals in the neighbourhoods surrounding the Central Prison Karachi.

In another resolution, the council members expressed concern over the increase in high-rises in Karachi, citing that they had already destroyed the city’s infrastructure and utility services. They demanded that the authorities put an end to mushroom growth of high-rise buildings.

The members pledged their support to the mayor when he asked them to make joint effort to solve city problems. “Citizens have elected us for solving their problems and it is our duty not to disappoint them.”

Mr Waqasi, thanked the council for appointing him as leader of the opposition, and hoped the mayor would work as the mayor of whole Karachi. Others who spoke included Arif Khan Advocate, Junaid Mukati, Shujaat Ali Khan, Abdul Majeed Baloch, Hanif Surti, Tehsin Abidi, Syed Akbar Shah Hashmi, Abdul Sattar, Tanvir Khan Jadoon, Shahnawaz Jadoon and Mairaj Shah.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2016