APP/OUR STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI - The Democrats clean-swept the Karachi Press Club elections for 2017 on Saturday.
According to results, The Democrats panel's candidate for president’s office Siraj Ahmed secured 464 votes and won the election. His rival candidate from The Journalist panel Abid Hussain received 225 votes.
The Democrats panel's candidate for the office of general secretary Maqsood Ahmed Yousufi got 497 votes. The candidate for vice president's office from the same panel, Syed Minhaj-ul-Rab, received 425 votes.
Similarly, Moosa Kaleem won the election for the seat of the treasurer and Naimat Khan for the office of joint secretary.
All seven members of the governing body who won the election were from The Democrats panel.
In a related development, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari extended his felicitations to the newly-elected office-bearers of the Karachi Press Club and hailed the members of Pakistan’s oldest press club for upholding democratic transitions and commitment to the freedom of press.
In his congratulatory message to newly-elected President Siraj Ahmed and Secretary Maqsood Ahmed Yousufi, the PPP chairman said that Karachi Press Club had always been a harbinger of democratic norms and a hub of professional and working journalists since its inception. “I hope and I am confident that office-bearers and members of the Karachi Press Club will continue to follow the principles of their predecessors and play their role in strengthening democracy at the national level,” he said.
Separately, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemned the bomb blast in Istanbul late on Saturday night in which dozens of people celebrating New Year were killed.
“The terrorist attack on innocent people in the beginning of the year is a warning that the scourge of terrorism needs more concentrated and coordinated international cooperation,” he said. Terrorism is in fact a common threat to the world peace, he said.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed sympathy with the people of Turkey, especially those who lost their loved ones in the barbaric bomb attack, and assured them that people of Pakistan stood in complete solidarity with them.
