KARACHI - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Saeed Ghani has said that the public has rejected those who indulge in ethnicity-based politics.

Reacting to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) rally in Liaquatabad on Saturday, Ghani, who has been elected to the provincial assembly from Karachi, claimed that people of the metropolis will not get duped by the MQM-P anymore.

He was addressing a press conference on Sunday. He claimed that the MQM-P, despite summoning all its workers, failed to fill up the rally venue to even 40 percent. “There was no energy in the workers and it seemed they comprised of workers of the local municipal corporations”.

MQM-P once again tried to used linguistic politics in Karachi to make its Liaquatabad show successful but the Karcahiites had rejected such politics and despite a joint venture from both factions they were unable to fill even one quarter of the Tanki Ground, where the party held public gathering on Saturday.

“The people of the city have now realised their politics will not further come in these old traps and would make PPP emerge as most successful party in the upcoming elections from the city,” he said.

He said that those who claim of having the mandate of the city for last 30 years have only given the people here with dead bodies, extortion and china-cutting.  “Whenever MQM-P realises that its position is going down in political arena it uses the Mohajir card but it should now understand that PPP respects the Urdu speaking community more than MQM-P and it was due to that respect that a large number of local people participated in PPP gathering,” he said.  He said that PPP had only criticised the policies of MQM-P that had caused problems for one of the most respected communities of the country. “Soon after the PPP public gathering, the MQM-P had realised that it needs to look after its vote bank and announced the Tanki Ground gathering, where it had not held any public gathering for years,” he said.

He said that Karachiites would reject the politics of London in the guise of MQM-P and the bat of Niazi, refereeing to PTI chairman Imran Khan, would also fail.  “The Lion [PML-N election symbol] would be in cage, kite [MQM-P symbol] will be cut and there will be PPP symbol arrow everywhere in the city,” he said.

Also, he said that PPP would organise another public gathering at University Road Karachi which would be addressed by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and other PPP leaders on May 12, 2007, a day which witnessed killings of over 50 people in rival-groups gunfight on Karachi roads on arrival of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The party has also acquired the permission of the public gathering at University road near Baitul Mukarram Mosque from deputy commissioner District East a request submitted by PPP District East President Iqbal Saand.

This would be the second public gathering from PPP in a month in Karachi to be addressed by Bilawal Bhutto and are aimed at consolidating the party position in the city, which is witnessing political vacuum due to factions among MQM-P rank and file, before the upcoming elections.