World | Pakistan
Karachi hopes new PM will bring peace
People of Karachi yesterday congratulated the country's 23rd Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, while many expressed the hope that he will work for national reconciliation.
- By Mujahid Ali, Correspondent
- Published: 00:06 March 26, 2008
Karachi: People of Karachi yesterday congratulated the country's 23rd Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, while many expressed the hope that he will work for national reconciliation.
"We cannot afford confrontationist politics. I hope that the new prime minister will not follow the agenda of those who want to pit parliament against the president," said Shabeer Hussain, a resident Azizabad - a lower-middle class neighbourhood in central Karachi. "I hope that he shows maturity and work for the progress and development of Pakistan.
Karachi, Pakistan's industrial hub and its largest city, remains a stronghold of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which is seen as a staunch ally of President Pervez Musharraf.
The MQM withdrew its joint opposition candidate Farooq Sattar in favour of Gilani and voted for him - a decision welcomed by both the rural and urban Sindh province of which Karachi is the headquarters.
Haider Abbas Rizvi, MQM's deputy parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, said his party hopes that the new prime minister will not take any step which creates tension in the country.
"Mr Gilani is an experienced politician. He has been through the thick and thin of politics. I hope that he will show political foresight. We wish him best of luck as the prime minister of Pakistan," he told Gulf News.
Waqar Ahmad, a teacher at a local private school, said that the new prime minister faces a lot of challenges. "As far as Karachi is concerned, I hope that he can solve the electricity crisis of this city. Our neighbourhood remains without power four to six hours a day though the peak of summer season has yet to start." In Lyari, the PPP-stronghold in Karachi, the mood was mixed. Hussain Shah, a donkey-cart driver and long time PPP-supporter, said Gilani became prime minister because of the sacrifice of Benazir Bhutto. "I hope he manages to complete the mission of our martyred leader," he said.
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