KARACHI - The city chapter of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is organising the Karachi Rights March on April 30 in the port city, is making all-out efforts to put up a big show on the given day.

The PTI has set up a central camp outside Mazar-e-Quaid to welcome the supporters and workers on the march day. Camps have also been set up in other parts of the city to mobilise the people of Karachi to join hands with Imran Khan and know their due rights. PTI Chairman Imran Khan will reach Karachi on Sunday to formally lead the march, which would start from Mazar-e-Quaid and culminate at Jail Chowrangi.

Earlier, Imran Khan in a open letter to Karachiites had appealed to people to ensure their presence in PTI’s Karachi Rights March. He said that time had arrived for the people of Karachi to stand up for their rights from the platform of the PTI.  The PTI is not the first party in recent days to stage protests in the city over a lack of civic facilities in the metropolis. Various political parties have initiated protests against the provincial government.

Jamaat-e-Islami is staging protests against the private power company, Karachi Electric, and its alleged accomplice NEPRA. The JI is scheduled to stage a sit-in outside Governor’s House on April 29 (today).

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), which is in power at the local government level in the city and is always complaining about limited powers, is staging protests against the provincial government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Earlier, it had been part of the ruling alliance in Sindh.

The newly formed party, Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) led by former Karachi mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal, was also in action against the Sindh government. It staged a protest for about 18 days outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC), seeking due rights for the citizens of Karachi. The PSP leadership, in the second phase, has announced a million march on May 14.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) made a move against the federal government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and staged a demonstration in Karachi against injustices to the province with regard to provision of gas, water and electricity.

Karachi University Political Science Assistant Professor Kamran Khan said that PTI had secured more than one million votes from Karachi in the last general election and was once again making efforts to attract voters by vowing to fight for the rights of Karachiites. “Currently, the city is witnessing a political vacuum and various political forces are trying to capture it,” he said.

He said that absence of the MQM-London led by Altaf Hussain had given all other political forces an open field to operate in the city. The PTI, being the party with the second highest votes in the last general elections in Karachi, might win seats in Karachi in the upcoming elections.

Talking to The Nation, PTI Karachi President Firdous Shamim Naqvi said, the Karachi Rights March was not part of his party’s election campaign. It was a movement to create awareness among people of Karachi who remained in the grip of a so-called stakeholder of the city for decades. He said the PTI leadership was motivating people of the port city to come on the roads and become part of the peaceful protest for their rights.  Talking about the protests being staged by other political parties in Karachi, the PTI leader said that Jamaat-e-Islami was a political group of retired people. He said there was no young leader in the Jamaat who could give momentum to the party’s protest drive. He said that Jamaat’s ideology had spread confusion among people.

“Secondly, we do not take Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) as a key political force. It is considered a faction of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which remained a partner of the ruling provincial party in the province, but failed to deliver anything to the masses,” he said.

Furthermore, the PPP is considered to be the king of corruption in the Sindh province and it has never given priority to issues facing the masses. Its ministers are allegedly involved in corruption cases, the PTI leader said.

The PPP’s movement against the federal government’s corruption has surprised everyone, as followers of corruption are raising voice against corruption, he said. People are fed up with the fake promises and violence-based politics of the MQM. People want a corruption-free Pakistan and Imran Khan is the only person who is in action to eliminate corruption from the country, he said.

To a question about decline in the popularity of the PTI in Karachi, Naqvi said it was not an easy task for the party to carry out its political activities in Karachi before the launch of the targeted operation in the city. Karachi was in the grip of a group, which did not allow any other political party to run its affairs openly and independently in the city. After the paramilitary force launched a successful operation in the city, every political force got a chance to work in the city. “The current atmosphere has provided us an opportunity to mobilise the people of Karachi and spread the ideology of PTI Chairman Imran Khan,” he said. In the last general elections, he said, a limited election campaign by Imran Khan brought fruitful results for the party and hopefully the PTI would mark victory in Karachi in the next general elections, Naqvi said.

 

 

Farraz Israr