PPP’s Murtaza Wahab took oath as the Karachi mayor at a ceremony held at the city’s Polo Ground on Monday.

According to updates on the PPP’s Twitter, party’s Salman Murad was also sworn in as the city’s deputy mayor at the ceremony.

Sindh Election Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan administered the oath to Wahab and Salman while Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Governor Kamran Tessori and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were also present on the occasion.

After the ceremony, Wahab tweeted that he was honoured to have taken oath as the Karachi mayor and grateful to the PPP leadership for showing trust in him.

“Grateful [for] the trust shown by Chairman Bilawal, President Zardari and Mrs Talpur on my capacity to lead to our great city. God willing, all PPP members, Salman and I will work together to serve the people of our city,” he pledged.

Both Wahab and Salam won the elections for their respective posts on June 15 in a contest that was marred by clashes and controversy, with the Jamaat-i-Islami — the PPP’s sole contender for the mayor’s seat — alleging that the ruling party in Sindh use force to ensure its victory.

Prior to the mayor’s election, the PPP had formed an alliance with the PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, taking their combined strength to 173, while the JI had the support of 61 PTI members, taking the expected number of votes for its candidate, JI Karachi chief Naeemur Rehman, to 192.

While Wahab secured all 173 expected votes, Rehman only managed to get 160 after 30 union council members abstained from the polling process. However, the JI has alleged that the provincial government had coerced the PTI members and rejected the polls.

The party also observed ‘Black Day’ on June 17 and held protests across the country over the election results, and it has now announced a protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) office in Islamabad.

‘Will respond to rigging allegations with our performance’

Speaking to the media after the oath-taking ceremony, Bilawal said the PPP would respond to those “levelling baseless allegations of rigging against us with our performance”.

“We will fulfil the expectations of the people of this city,” he vowed.

At the outset of his media talk, he congratulated Wahab, Salman and workers and office-bearers of the PPP.

He said the PPP’s jiyalas had sacrificed their lives for this country, city and democracy.

“Today, we remember the martyrs of the PPP and dedicate this win to them … and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto,” he added.

Bilawal went on to say that in Karachi, “political parties are formed overnight, and they disappear at the next election. But the PPP has been here forever”.

He urged those elected on local government seats to work in cooperation with the Sindh government and resolve the issues of their respective areas.

As far as Karachi was concerned, he added, “I will take personal interest [in its issues], and it will be my personal responsibility.

“In comparison to previous local government, Wahab and Murad would perform better.”

He also assured that councillors of other parties would not be discriminated against.

“You have to reject the politics of divide and hatred and solve the problems of this city together,” he said.

In reply to a question about the PPP’s reservations on the FY24 budget, particularly regarding the allocations of funds for flood rehabilitation, he said a PPP committee would be holding a meeting with government bodies tonight and hoped that the party’s grievances would be redressed.

“The PPP’s committee held a meeting … before the weekend and tonight will be our second engagement, and we hope that our grievances regarding flood [funds] will be redressed,” he said.

Bilawal added that the component of floods should not have been the last component to be added to the budget. “It should have been the thrust of the budget.”

JI announces protest outside ECP in Islamabad

Earlier today, JI’s Naeemur Rehman said his party would stage a protest outside the ECP office in Islamabad on June 23 (Friday) against the PPP government’s alleged use of force to win the Karachi mayoral election.

“It will be a massive protest and we will question the ECP about the polls it held in Karachi […] the ECP will have to declare the election invalid and rectify all its mistakes,” he said.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi today, Rehman said that the party was mulling taking a convoy of protesters from Karachi to the federal capital on June 23.

“We can’t accept these fake and rigged elections,” he asserted, adding that the PPP had “unlawfully held Karachi’s mandate” to keep its “donkey network” active.

Rehman went on to say that the ECP had completely failed to hold free and fair elections in Karachi, questioning how the body would be able to hold polls across the country. “This was just a trailer, the entire film is yet to be unveiled.”

“How can we trust this institution to hold unbiased elections? If the ECP works as a facilitator for parties, how will democracy flourish in Pakistan?”

The JI Karachi chief vowed that his party would adopt every legal and constitutional path to bring the truth before the public.

“If you had won the elections in a fair manner, we would have accepted the results without any complaints. But we won’t accept this rigging in any way.”

Rehman further warned that he wouldn’t let the PPP interfere in the development work underway in JI’s union councils.