ISLAMABAD June 30: Karachi City Nazim Niamatullah Khan on Thursday raised the prospect of a bloodbath in the upcoming local council elections and accused a major political outfit of involvement in target killings. The nazim said there was no doubt in his mind about the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s involvement in human rights violations and incidents of killing and dumping gunny bag-packed corpses in the streets.

He recalled that nine people had been killed in the May 12 by-poll in Karachi.

Speaking at a news conference at the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club’s camp office here, Niamatullah Khan said that if the polls were held under army supervision and were fair and free, he would win outright on the basis of his work.

Mr Niamatullah said that because of his meritorious services to Karachi he enjoyed the whole-hearted support of President General Pervez Musharraf. Despite that, he said he could not take action against the MQM as the party was a member of the ruling coalition.

He alleged that instead of receiving support from the provincial government, the MQM ministers had been involved in blocking work on projects that the city government had undertaken.

Citing an example, he said work on the “Daman-i-Koh” project was suspended without a valid reason after a police mobile was unceremoniously dispatched to the project site. Similarly, he said that he had annoyed provincial authorities by appointing a consultant for Rs60 million and rejecting a preferred choice of theirs who would have charged Rs250 million.