New Karachi mayor will run city from jail

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s financial hub of Karachi elected a mayor this week but the only problem is he is in jail. Senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Waseem Akhtar was arrested last month on sedition and terrorism charges.

Akhtar has vowed to run Pakistan’s largest and richest city from his prison cell after winning the mayoral poll on Wednesday. The former minister and parliamentarian won by a landslide with 196 of the total 294 votes cast by municipal authorities.

His MQM colleague, Arshad Vohra, was elected deputy mayor in the final phase of the local government elections in Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital.

The MQM swept Karachi’s local government elections last December, but elected members could not take office because of legal challenges that prevented them from casting their vote.

Akhtar said he would ask the chief minister of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, to allow him to open an office in jail and make “new rules” so that people can access him.

His lawyer, Mahfooz Yar Khan, said the new mayor would run Karachi via video link for the whole five-year term of office if necessary.

Part of the problem remains the fluctuating fortunes of the MQM, which has controlled Karachi for decades.

Earlier this week, Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Farooq Sattar said the party will no longer take directions from London – a reference to party founder Altaf Hussain, who lives in self-exile there.

The move came after Hussain’s controversial speech on Monday in which he described Pakistan as a “cancer for the entire world ” and criticised the government and the army.

He also attacked the media for a blackout of the MQM party’s activities, following which party supporters attacked media offices and destroyed public and private property.