Karachi: The political environment in this mega city is getting hypercharged as several opposition parties take to the streets to protest over a variety of civic issues in the lead-up to the next general elections.
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) expanded its protest against the provincial government’s alleged failure to address issues facing the public. Headed by former senator and city mayor Mustafa Kamal, the party had staged a sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club.
Kamal on Saturday announced the party would increase the number of sit-ins and hold protests at about a dozen other venues in the city to allow a greater number of people to take part in the protest against the Sindh government which, he said, was rather oblivious of key issues facing Karachi.
Addressing his supporters, Kamal said he would not be content with just holding token press conferences but would keep pushing the PSP’s demands till such time that they received proper attention.
For its part, the Jamat-e-Islami (JI), which staged a day-long sit-in outside the K-Electric company on Friday, announced that it would escalate the protest against the private electricity utility for its exorbitant overbilling of consumers under the patronage of unscrupulous government institutions.
JI city chief Naeemur Rehman pledged that, for the next round of the protest, a strategy would be announced next week. He pledged to stage a sit-in outside the governor’s house and also outside the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to highlight gross irregularities pertaining to the issuance of national identity cards as well as against the water board for the sheer mismanagement of water resources despite the onset of summer.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also staged a protest against the water shortages outside the cantonment board offices in the posh Clifton area. During the protest, party workers faced off with security officials and Arif Alvi, a senior PTI leader, was booked for grabbing the neck of a police officer who was stopping protesters.
A case was registered against Alvi, who claimed that his intention was not to grab the officer by the neck but that he was only trying to get the officer’s attention.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) held a press conference accusing the authorities of enticing its workers to join a splinter group of the party in exchange for getting the criminal cases against them withdrawn.
Senior MQM leader Aamir Khan said it was a deliberate attempt to subvert his party and that the party was being denied the opportunity to take out peaceful protests.
