KARACHI - Opposition in the City Council has started hoping that after the departure of Karachi Deputy Mayor Arshad Vohra, MQM-Pakistan (MQM-P) would lose its more seats in the council.
Taking advantage of the situation, the opposition is now planning to formulate a new strategy.
Several opposition members in the council, while talking to The Nation on Sunday, expressed the hope that more elected representatives of MQM-P would join other political parties because of their parent party’s lack of a clear vision and failure to deliver.
Similar opinions were expressed by Dr Arshad Vohra, who joined Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) on Sunday, they added.
The members said that large number of city council members stood with Vohra.
The members, supportive of Vohra, may leave the party and also leave their seats in the council soon, opposition claimed.
Karamullah Waqasi, Parliamentary Leader of Pakistan People’s Party in the city council, Karachi, told The Nation that “We will try to gather all opposition parties on one platform for a joint election to the seat of deputy mayor.”
“The deputy mayor failed to serve the citizens during his tenure of one year and the time has come to gather all opposition parties on one platform against the ruling party,” Waqasi added.
He urged Vohra to submit his resignation forthwith so that the process of election of new deputy mayor could be held soon. He said that Vohra had admitted his failure to perform well, and said that Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar also lacked the vision.
Although the opposition parties admitted that their numerical strength in the city council rendered them unable to win the seat of deputy mayor, but they added they stood a greater chance to defeat the ruling party if more members of MQM-P changed their loyalties, as per their expectations. On the other side, the name of Aslam Shah Afridi, Parliamentary Leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan in the city council, is under consideration for the post of deputy mayor.
It is worth mentioning here that MQM-Pakistan have numerical strength in the KMC Council — 213 members out of the total 308 elected members.