The first meeting of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s City Council after mayoral polls in mid-June was marred by chaos and commotion as Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) members shouted slogans against the PPP and the city mayor, Murtaza Wahab.

Wahab was elected Karachi mayor after a tough fight against JI’s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, who had also claimed numerical superiority in the run-up to the election on June 15.

But on the polling day, the JI, which also had partial support from the PTI, secured 160 votes against Wahab’s 173. Hafiz had rejected these results.

Rifts between the two parties have seemingly deepened since then, with the JI preferring to stay away from the maiden meeting called by Wahab last week of leaders of different parties to discuss the smooth running of the 367-strong house.

In today’s meeting, Rehman blasted the mayor and accused him of usurping the position as his party members shouted slogans against the PPP.

Television footage of the council proceedings also showed some council members coming to blows and pushing each other back and forth while the mayor tried to control the crowd.

“You are enjoying this a lot? You are responsible for this … Rather you should be ashamed,” Rehman said to Wahab while addressing him on the city council floor.

For his part, the mayor welcomed all members of the city council and expressed hope that all of them would work for the city’s betterment.

“We will work in every UC and there will be equal treatment with all members, we will work with everyone, including the workers of JI,” he assured, adding that they would work to “make Karachi a cradle of peace as we want to solve the problems of the city with [mutual] understanding”.

Wahab further said that the PPP, JI, PML-N, PTI and other parties would have to serve Karachi together, adding that “time will tell who served Karachi and who did politics.”

Wahab asked the members present at the session whether they wanted the development of Karachi, wanted to solve water problems and wanted to get rid of the land mafia.

“Shouting slogans does not solve problems, and our political training is visible to Karachi because we want to improve and develop Karachi.”

He said that he and the deputy mayor were with the city council members and he wanted to tell them that Karachi was “our priority”.

“Water sewage and roads are a priority and we will fix the parks of Karachi and will try to have work done in every UC,” he added.

PTI Parliamentary Leader Asad Aman, PML-N Parliamentary Leader Muhammad Feroze and PPP Parliamentary Leader Najmi Alam also addressed the city council’s introductory meeting at the mayor’s invitation

“We are standing for the development of Karachi because if Karachi progresses, the whole country will move forward and develop,” Aman said.

Alam invited all the parties present in the council to work together for the city’s development after which the mayor declared the meeting over.

Two condolence resolutions and one condemnation resolution were adopted in the meeting.

Condolences were offered on the death of city council member Farida Majeed and former federal minister Sher Muhammad Baloch and prayers for forgiveness were also offered for the deceased.

A resolution condemning last month’s desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden was also passed.

Later, Wahab fired back at Rehman for the city council commotion at a press conference in Frere Hall.

He questioned whether Rehman had contested the mayoral election against him just for the city’s top seat, implying that the JI leader’s intent was not to serve the metropolis.

“Fighting is of no use. Let us all focus on one thing and that is to give hope to the people of Karachi. Come, work together. You will not be able to solve the problems of the people of Karachi with this sloganeering,” the mayor said.