KARACHI, Jan 16 (APP): Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the conduct of free, fair, and peaceful elections of local bodies in the second phase was the manifestation of his government’s commitment to the people of the province and to the democratic process.
He congratulated all the successful candidates, irrespective of their party affiliation.
Talking to media persons on Monday, here at the Expo Center, where he visited the Iranian Single Country Exhibition, the chief minister said that said that the LG elections on reserved seats would be held within a month to finalize the process.
Flanked by his Special Assistant on Investment Syed Qasim Naveed, the CM appreciated and thanked law enforcement agencies, including Police, Rangers, FC, and Army for providing security during the elections.
Talking about the delay in announcement of results, the CM said, “Some people are giving the impression that the provincial government is causing a delay in the issuance of elections result. As a matter of fact, my government has nothing to do with counting and announcing results. It is the job and the responsibility of the Election Commission, and I have already communicated with them [EC] on this issue.”
The chief minister said that he had also spoken with Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman and told him that it was not only his party [Jamat-e-Islami] that was not receiving results, it was the same for the PPP.
He said that Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah was constantly in touch with Hafiz Naeem and others, and they all were trying to get the results at the earliest. Murad also thanked the people of Sindh for reposing confidence in the PPP.
To a question, the CM said that the government would cooperate with the ‘to be elected’ Mayor of Karachi and strengthen him. “I am sure the new Mayor would not cry for want of power but would focus to serve the people of this city”, he said and added the local bodies had all the powers they needed to serve the people.
Replying to a question, Murad Ali Shah said that he made the last ditch effort to persuade the MQM-P to contest the local bodies election but they chose to boycott the process. He added “when a political party chooses to boycott the election means it is creating a vacuum that other parties fill in,” he said and went on to say that once the PPP had boycotted the election held on a non-party basis [under Zia regime] that caused huge political loss to the party.
Answering another question, he said that in the city, elections were held on 235 seats, and hopefully the PPP would win over 100 seats. “There is a tough contest among the three parties – PPP, Jamat-e-Islami, and PTI,” he said.
In Hyderabad, the CM said that out of 160 seats, the PPP had won 104 or 105.
Earlier, the chief minister visited different stalls set up by Iranian companies at the Expo and was briefed by them about their products.
Later, Murad attended the MOU signing ceremony between Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and Iran Trade Promotion Organization. Speaking at the ceremony the CM said that there was a dire need to enhance the volume of trade between the two countries.
