Karachi mayor refuses to quit

The Jamaat-e-Islami-backed Mayor of Karachi, Naimatullah Khan, vowed yesterday that he will not resign from his post despite the mounting pressure from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which he alleged was not allowing the local governments to work freely.

"Whatever may be the pressure, I will not resign," Naimatullah Khan, nazim or mayor of Karachi, told Gulf News.

On Saturday, Khan held a news conference in which he made a scathing attack on the MQM, a major coalition partner in the Sindh provincial government and supports the government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

The news conference followed by comments from Khan reflects the growing discord between the MQM and the Jamaat-e-Islam.

Khan said the MQM's provincial ministers were increasingly interfering in the affairs of the local government. "They are directly giving orders to the bureaucrats in violation of the law and even performing the opening ceremonies of the projects which were initiated by the local government," he said.

Khan got elected as Karachi mayor because the MQM had boycotted the local body elections. After 2002 general elections, which brought back the MQM in provincial and national assemblies from Karachi, a rift between the two forces was expected.