KARACHI           -       After a marathon series of meetings, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-Q) boycotted the local government elections as a protest against what it called ‘unfair’ attitude of the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, the party made it clear that they were not leaving the federal government for the sake of democracy. Addressing a presser at the party’s headquarters in Bahadurabad, MQM-P Convener Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that the alleged pre-poll rigging had already been done and they did not consider it as polls. “We had approached all concerned platforms for free and fair elections but to no avail. We are withdrawing from the election and the people should also withdraw from their right to vote,” he added. Syed Mustafa Kamalm, Dr. Farooq Sattar, Faisal Sabzwari, Wasim Akhtar, MPA Muhammad Hussain and other Rabita Committee members were also present on the occasion. “The real representatives of Karachi will be back,” he said. He asked the people of Karachi and Hyderabad to boycott the polls and remain at homes as their votes will not be counted fairly. The MQM-P Convener also took a jibe at the Jamaat-e-Islami and said it was part of the conspiracy against the city despite the fact that it also seconded the MQM’s stance on delimitation “Taking part in this electoral process will be tantamount to justify the unfair elections,” he said and added that the party will be initiating another movement from 16th January. Without us no party could form the federal government and even today no party could form the city government,” he added. He said that delimitation was the supreme responsibility of the ECP and it has failed miserably to fulfil its duties. “We have been trying to get justice for Karachi and Hyderabad for the last many months. We had convinced the Sindh government but the ECP unconstitutionally turned down the provincial government’s letter to postpone the election,” Dr. Siddiqui said. He said that ‘unfair’ elections were an effort to push MQM, Muhajir community towards the wall. Syed Mustafa Kamal said that the MQM-P had boycotted the local bodies elections and Jamaat-e-Islami was able to form the government but did nothing for the city instead of installing name plates. Earlier, the MQM-P’s Rabita committee held a marathon meeting in which its members split over participation in the elections. Some of its members suggested not to leave the ground empty for its rivals while others maintained that the party was not fully prepared for the polls. Then the Rabita Committee members went to Governor House where they met with the Sindh government’s delegation led by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah. Provincial ministers Sharjeem Inam Memon and Saeed Ghani attended from the PPP while Governor Kamran Tessori, MQM-P Convener Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Senator Faisal Sabzwari represented the MQM-P. The MQM-P insisted for postponement of the elections as the party did not carry out the campaign unlike other political parties. The PPP tried its best to convince the MQM-P not to boycott and field its candidate for the polls. It may be noted here that uncertainty persisted for the past few days as the Sindh government had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to postpone the polls.